Compilation of Aang
by Jedoliath
Summary: Some of my greatest stories compiled together.
1. Chapter 1

So quiet.  
There is nothing. Not even the sound of his beating heart.

It's almost serene - the darkness, the quiet. For once in Ang's life there is nothing. But then his vision was filled with fire, causing him to jerk his body away. As he did so there was a shattering sound. His vision was engulfed by water instantly. Everywhere he looked was only the same blue.

Instinctively Ang slapped his arms to the side of his body and rocketed upwards. Within less than a second he was up, above the surface of the water he had just been in. He managed to grab a glance of his surroundings before he plummeted back into the water.

He appeared to be in some sort of gigantic lake. He could just see the green outline of land, faraway in the distance. It seemed more like an Ocean to him.

Ang looked down through the water below him. He could see shards of ice floating around beneath the water, already dissolving - what remained of his cold, silent prison.

Gazing at his former entrapment he found images flashing up into his mind.

_The storm was horrendous - it battered Ang left and right, he struggled just to keep aloft, let alone go in a certain direction. But he had to push on because she was in trouble. She would die without his help. But as he thought this a giant wall of water rose up to block his way. Ang could swear it was laughing as it toppled down over him, pushing him to the bottom of the Ocean._

Ang had absolutely no idea who 'she' was or what happened after he got to the bottom of the ocean. But he assumed he had something to do with the ice prison he had formed for himself. The Avatar gently floated to the surface of the water and looked to the distance green line on the horizon - the only decent looking place for him to go.

The boy sped through the water, a spray of bubbles frothing out behind him. Whenever he needed air he would simply conjure a bubble of oxygen inside his mouth. Ang figured he was making good time because he could see the mass of land coming up fast.

The Avatar burst from the water, shaking himself off as he soared through the air. He landed on a wooden dock.

"At least I'll be able to buy some food," Ang muttered to himself, rubbing the tattoo on his forehead. There were many people milling around but Ang chose the closest and walked up to him.

"I don't have any money but could you give me some food anyway?" Ang asked, a broad smile filling his face.

"Why don't you try a super market, punk-ass little kid," the man said gruffly as he stormed off.

Ang was puzzled, he had never heard of a super market. He assumed a super market was a market for people who were super such as himself. He didn't know what 'punk-ass' meant but he knew it must have been a compliment otherwise the man wouldn't have said it.

Ang decided that the huge buildings down the street looked pretty super to him so he set out that way, saying hello to every face he met. Only to be replied to with a scowl.

"Excuse me, sir, but do you know where the Earth King is?" Ang asked a women possessing a lot of black spiky hair.

"The what?" She sneered,

"The Earth King. You know lord of the Earth Kingdom? He's a fantastic Earth Bender."

"Ah, kid, this isn't the Earth Kingdom. This is a city called Capitol. Do me a favour - lay off the drugs, it'll do you a world of good.

Ang didn't reply. He had never in his life heard of a place called Capitol. It didn't even sound slightly familiar. And apparently this women hadn't heard of the Earth Kingdom either.

_Where the hell am I?_

The boy was awoken from his daze by the sound of a women screaming. He was instantly alert - fists clenched and eyes seemingly taped open looking for the source of the sound.

He realized that the sound was coming from a dark alleyway. No-one else on the street had seemed to notice yet - it was all up to Ang. He took off at a sprint for the alleyway. He skidded to a halt at the mouth of the alley to see a man in dark clothing wrestling a women to the ground. Ang grabbed a sheath of air around him, span and then pushed it forward, directly at the criminal. He went flying, cracking his head against the brick wall 20 metres away. Ang didn't bother checking if either of them was alright, he just walked away.

About ten minutes later he began to hear footsteps behind him. When he felt the footsteps to be with only metres of him he span, with his hands raised in defense. Standing before him was an incredibly tall man - probably seven foot. He had two Katanas in sheaths on his back and he appeared to be dressed in Ninja Gui.

"Whoa, don't be alarmed little one. I am a friend." The mysterious man assured Ang.

"What do you want?"

"I am part of an organization called the D'Haran Arm. We're basically a giant Police Force," he explained. "Anyway I saw what you did to that criminal back there, it was quite frankly amazing - just what we need for our new Special Forces Division. You'll be given access to our top training facilities, plenty of money and shelter if you need it. But in return we'll want you to perform special missions for us. Can you handle that?"

"I can handle anything!" The Avatar exclaimed. "Make sure I can have plenty of watermelons and then you've got a deal."

The tall man just smiled and said, "I'm Arthur."


	2. Chapter 2

Name: Hostage  
Description: Walking through one of the smaller villages, you encounter a woman who begs for your assistance. As you enter the house, she holds a gun to the back of your head and two other masked gun men flip around with automatics. They disarm you of any weapons you have and tie up your hands and feet, holding you hostage. You find that you are one of two other people who had been living in the home who have been tied up. You find out that these are fugitives who are known for mass murder. By the looks of the fugitives, all of them including the woman could put up a fight good enough to take you out. How will you get out of this situation?

Aang punched the bag in front of him, sending it swinging at an alarming angle. He dodged the bag and caught it, settling it down. The boy was sweating profusely after his workout. He didn't think of the exercising as a way to get better, he thought of it as a good way to release his anger but he ended up doing both in the end. The monk pulled on his top but paused in front of the mirror – he'd only aged a few days in his time on this world but he looked somehow older. He was still the same scrawny child but there was this presence about him, almost an eternal sadness. Aang quickly turned away before he thought too much about it. Aang walked out of the gym and to the control tower, looking for Arthur.

He found the Samurai bent over a computer screen, muttering to himself. Aang walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. Arthur whipped round so fast you'd have thought he'd seen a ghost.

"Oh, Aang, it's just you," he said, looking slightly afraid. "Anyway Aang we have to head out on patrol now, to a small village on the coast."

"What's your problem?" Aang asked,

"I don't have a problem. Just drop it and let's go,' he spat as he walked from the room. Aang bent down and went to look at his searching history – it had been erased. Aang's imagination automatically clicked on and he wondered what sort of dirty stuff Arthur had been looking up. With his imagination whirring, Aang followed his partner out to the air pad.

The boy climbed into the helicopter and glanced at Arthur who just ignored him. Aang noticed that the usually calm warrior was gripping the wheel far too tightly – the whites of his knuckles shone out like small flashlights. Aang didn't bother pushing the matter so he just sat back and relaxed.

A thudding sound told Aang to wake up because they were landing. He could hear the rotor blades slowing down so he made to open his door. But just as his hand reached the latched he realized Arthur was completely still – as in not controlling the helicopter. Arthur seemed to have fallen unconscious while flying the aircraft, and now they were in a direct course for the ground.

Aang lurched over the helicopter, grabbing Arthur and launching himself out of the vehicle with Arthur in his arms. The monk began frantically kicking his legs, trying to conjure enough air to slow their descent – it was difficult with the giant Arthur weighing him down. Just before they hit the ground Aang did an extra hard kick and managed to slow them down enough to not be pulverized and become one with the ground. Aang crawled out from underneath Arthur and surveyed his surroundings: he was surrounded by trees all around, no sign of life anywhere…well, human life.

"At least it's peaceful," Aang said, trying to be optimistic. As he said this the helicopter plummeted to the ground, destroy the forest around him. "At least it didn't explo-" the helicopter exploded setting the entire patch of undergrowth around them alight. The boy sighed; he never learned to shut up.

The fire was spreading fast and would soon consume him, Arthur and at least a million small woodland creatures in the vicinity. Aang sprang up, leaping into the air and sweeping his arm down, sending a massive blast of air at the flames. The oxygen only made the flames bigger, brighter. So Aang tried again, but this time he concentrated all of his energy into his hands and pushed downwards. The blast of air that erupted sent him flipping backwards through the air but most of the fire had gone out at least.

After he had finished with the flames he went down to check on his friend. Arthur wouldn't respond to anything Aang did to him. Aang checked his pupils and blew on them – no response. He pinched Arthur's earlobe – no response. He put a small flame down Arthur's pants – no response. Aang sighed – he'd got himself into another extremely frustrating predicament. The small boy shouldered his partner and set off at a walk in a completely random direction – he had absolutely no way to tell which way a village or any sort of civilization was. He only hoped he ran into a river somewhere that could lead him to a village.

Hours later Aang was still walking, lugging around the massive form of Arthur. By then Aang's legs had practically turned to jelly and his friend's motionless body was all that was keeping him from toppling over and giving up. Aang had always worked hard in his life but never before had he walked this far before let alone carrying a huge man.

Occasionally throughout the journey Aang would hear a hissing sound which would send shivers down his spine and reminded him all too well that he was not alone in this jungle – there were things lurking, just waiting for his concentration to slip. Even the slightest moment of relaxation could have him inside something's belly. Even with the thought of being digested alive he still found it hard to keep his eyes open. And for just a second he closed his eyes and relaxed.

All of a sudden he felt himself be tackled to the ground by something slimy and scaly. Aang opened his eyes to see a snake's enormous head rearing up ready to strike. It darted forward with amazing speed and Aang just managed to catch the snake's jaws, inches from his head. The monk wrenched the reptile's jaws open as wide as he could and then spat a ball of flame down its throat. He watched as it writhed on the ground and after a few minutes it lay still. The boy felt a slight burning sensation on his face and rubbed the sore area. He took his hand away to find some weird purple jelly that was convulsing on his hand. It was a very weird substance and it seemed to be alive. Aang rubbed it off on a tree and went and picked up Arthur again, resuming the walk.

Aang finally found a river which was rapidly flowing and obviously inhabited with even more dangerous creatures. Aang decided to take his chances with the river rather than walking alongside for a few hundred kilometers. He quickly set to work making a crude raft out of a log and some sticks. He found a sharp looking rock and chiseled out seats for both him and Arthur and then he lashed sticks perpendicular to the bottom of the raft to help keep it balanced. He stepped back to look at his work and was utterly appalled at the result. It was the best the bald boy could have hoped for but it really did not look safe. He just shrugged and bundled Arthur into the front where he could keep an eye on him and then sat in the back himself. Aang wrapped his legs around Arthur to keep him steady and then lay back himself and put his hands in the water. He fired a burst of continuous air from his hands to push them off from the bank and then adjusted his hands – just like a speed boat's engine to turn. It wasn't the best way to turn but it proved effective enough not to get them killed.

Quite a few times along the way Arthur woke up in an extremely delirious state and tried to tip the boat over, Aang had to knock him back out to stop them both dying. Eventually after dodging many rocks, crocodiles and anacondas they arrived at a village.

Aang hauled Arthur and himself onto the shore my tipping over the boat and lying in a puddle. He waited for a few minutes before getting up. He was absolutely exhausted – all of his muscles were burning with tiredness – he could barely move. Aang struggled to his feet and began to drag Arthur through the mud towards a cluster of houses. Aang didn't bother picking him up, he was just too exhausted.

A woman spotted the bedraggled boy limping across the village and ran over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. But my friend seems to have collapsed," Ang replied, gesturing at the mud-coated form of his friend.

"Well come in and relax while I tend to your friend," she offered as she ran away back to her house. The Avatar sighed and lifted his partner up and began dragging him to the house. He opened the door to find two other men in the room with the woman; they were facing the wall so Aang put Arthur cautiously down on the bed and subtly tensed himself for an attack.

"Sit down, Aang," the women ordered as the men turned around with deadly looking guns. "Listen, Aang, you've got yourself caught up in something that is beyond you, something that will revolutionize the course of the future. I'm going to tell you this because I don't think it is fair for you to die without knowing what a good cause you died for."

Aang sat down when the gunman jabbed him in the back. "You see, years ago before we were sent to prison we managed to make a formula – a prototype which we injected into your friend. Basically we programmed your friend's brain to react to the news of our escape by seeking us out. He obviously tried to fight the control which is why he passed out, but thankfully you managed to deliver him to us safely," the lady said with a smile.

"Don't mention it," Aang sneered.

"Come now, Aang, don't be bitter. You'll have died for a good cause. Now without anymore interruptions I'll explain further. All we have to do now is inject him with this," she held up a syringe filled with some sort of purple liquid. The liquid seemed to be moving around. "Once we've injected him he'll become our very own slave," she giggled maniacally. "Now we will have a mole inside the D'Haran Arm that will be totally loyal to us – not to mention one of the greatest and most high ranking fighters in the army therefore the least suspicious. Finally we can bring down the evil D'Haran Arm once and for all!"

"Evil?" Aang raised his eyebrow,

"Yes, evil! They've obviously hypnotized you. Anyway, boy, now Arthur will kill you as a little warm-up for what he will eventually achieve." Suddenly Arthur sat up. That usual lively spark was lost from his eyes, replaced by a dull grey of nothing. Aang's former friend just lowered himself off the bed, said nothing and drew one of his long Katanas. In a flash Arthur darted towards him and swiped out with his blade, Aang barely ducked underneath it in time. The Avatar slowly backed away from Arthur, not wanting to hurt his friend but also not wanting to get his head chopped off either. When Arthur went in for the second strike Aang dodged it again and leaped out of the window. The boy landed in a pile of broken glass. The boy was now covered in tiny little pieces of glass that sparkled in the sun, it made him almost look beautiful until the blood began to flow and Aang was moaning with pain. The monk had no time to rest though because Arthur had leaped from the window and drove his sword into the ground where Aang was only seconds ago.

Aang took off at a run, trying to make some distance from Arthur, but the damn ninja was just too fast. He was in front of Aang almost instantly, swinging madly with his blade once again. Aang finally did the one thing he really did not want to do – he surrounded himself in an inferno of fire once more, but he tried as hard as he could not to hurt Arthur. Aang tried to blow Arthur back with blasts of air but the persistent man held his ground. So Aang just unleashed the flame around him – that made Arthur back up. The entire area was filled with smoke giving Aang the chance he needed to escape. He summoned a ball of air underneath his feet and shot off towards the jungle once more – he had a plan.

The boy had noticed that the same stuff in the injection that had been given to his friend was the same thing the snake had spat on his face earlier that day. All he had to do was find the snake, milk the venom, and then find a scientist who could help him make a cure. The plan wasn't the best but it was the only plan he had.

So Aang slowly crept through the jungle, trying to hunt the predator that had done this to him only hours ago. Aang had never heard of the kind of venom he was looking for so he figured the snake must be pretty rare. Either that or it was just so deadly and efficient that there were never any witnesses to tell the story of a snake attack which is why Aang had to be both careful and observant at the same time. He found this difficult when he was bone-tired and could barely walk but with the thought of Arthur's once lively, happy eyes he pushed on.

Hours passed and he had still seen no sign of the snake or anything else for that matter. It seemed that this jungle was completely desolate except for that one snake that had attacked him – Aang prayed that it was not the only one, because that would mean he had practically killed his friend. As he was thinking this he felt a chill down his spine. He felt something watching him stalking him.

Aang quickly looked around but saw nothing. Whatever was following him was hunting very well indeed. He carried on walking only to hear the soft slithering sound coming from behind him. This time Aang did not turn around he just kept walking, casually. The slithering sound began to pick up speed. A hiss sounded behind him and in that moment he knew the snake was about to strike, Aang span on the ball of his foot and just managed to catch the snake around the throat. They both went down wrestling each other. It was then that Aang realized how gigantic this snake was. Its head was about the size of his entire body and its body stretched far beyond Aang's line of vision. The Avatar let go for just a second and punched the snake in the head, it seemed relatively unaffected. So the boy quickly backed up trying to think of a different plan while he kept it away with blasts of air. The snake would only stay back for so long so Aang had to think of something fast, and then he realized what he'd have to do. The monk quickly rushed towards a rotten looking tree, knowing that it would be soft and limber. He snapped off a huge branch and tested how dense it was. His finger sank right into the wood – perfect.

The Avatar now went on the advance, slowly circling the reptile and dodging the snaps. Then it made its fatal mistake as Aang held the stick up before him the snake tried to rip it in half – tried to show its dominance. Its venom began to seep into the log, but it was trying to pull free and the boy could not let that happen. So Aang leaped over the stick and onto the snake's head, from there he began wrenching the stick further up onto the snake's fangs. This was far harder than it sounds because the entire time he was being smashed into logs and rocks and other dangerous things.

After about ten minutes of being bashed by the reptile he figured it was enough venom and popped the log out of the snake's mouth. The reptile seemed to be so humiliated that it didn't even bother to carry on fighting, it just slinked away, ashamed. Now the next problem: Aang only knew one scientist and he was part of the D'Haran Arm which was now an impenetrable fortress to the boy since Arthur would have turned the entire organization against him by now. So Aang needed a plan to get in, a plan that could not and would not fail because it was that well thought out.

Aang spent hours and hours wondering what he could do to get inside and then something clicked in his head and he knew: he should just run in there disarm anyone that got in his way. Aang wondered why other criminals didn't do this when they were trying to break into one of the most well-protected and advanced facilities in the Galaxy.

The boy tied the log to his back and set off for the city, dust kicking up behind the blur that was his legs.

The D'Haran Arm complex seemed bigger to the boy for some reason. Maybe it was because his former friend was in there and plotting how to kill him. Aang decided to waste absolutely no time, so he just leaped over the gate into the fight.

Bullets were instantly whizzing around him, and soon the guards would take the time to aim and actually hit him. So he had to get out of there fast. Aang sprinted, a swirling hurricane forming around him as he headed for the side door to the building. The hurricane was managing to deflect the bullets for now at least but he knew it wouldn't be able to keep as intense and soon one of the little pieces of death would hit him and it would all be over. After what seemed like an eternity Aang reached the door. He heated up his hand and placed it on the handle, shocked to see it melt right off. He ripped open the door and rushed down the hallway, his hurricane tearing the white tiles from the walls and throwing them back towards the chasing soldiers. Most of the pursuing guards went down in a hail of stone as the tiles shattered into the walls probably causing more than one serious injury.

Aang rushed up the flight of stairs, he only had thirteen more to go and by the fourth he was finding the vortex hard to keep going as even more bullets whirred around him. Eventually it all became too much for the boy and he snapped, sending a wave of flames into the soldiers behind them. The Avatar did not stay to watch them burn alive. He could finally let the hurricane dissipate, but as he reached the twelfth floor he ran into an obstacle he didn't care too much for: two sentinels which were in the middle of the extremely large room which led to the thirteenth floor. They were sentinels captured by the D'Haran Arm and then reprogrammed so that they wouldn't go around killing innocent people – well if it could be avoided of course. But now they had been ordered to attack Aang, which was very, very bad news.

At the exact same time they lifted their arms and shot their lasers directly at him. Aang had to quickly vault out of the way and dance around him which would give him a few seconds to think before they turned around and killed him. He just couldn't think of anything and was forced to dodge again as they both fired missiles simultaneously at him.

"What is the point in firing at the same time?" Aang yelled at them. "There's no point in fact you're probably more likely to get blown up doing that! Someone could just draw your fire an-" Aang cut himself off realizing what he had to do.

He skipped around to the middle of both of the machines and held himself in the air at exactly eye level. Then when he saw their eyes begin to glow he dropped, and the two laser beams shot past each other and sent both of the robots crashing through the walls on either side – now smoldering useless wrecks.

"Damn I'm good," Aang said to himself as he ran for the thirteenth floor. The Avatar bolted down the hallway towards the Scientist's office but when he was almost at the door a squadron of soldiers appeared. The boy just managed to get inside the office before a torrent of bullets whizzed past. Aang slammed the door behind him and rushed over to the man sitting at his desk.

"Listen very carefully because what I am about to tell you will be very hard to take in," Aang assured the man.

"You do realize every unit in this facility is looking for you, right?"

"Yes I realize that! So just listen before they come in here and I have to take you hostage!" Aang screamed,

"Okay okay, go on."

"Alright, my friend was injected with a mutated form of the venom in this branch which caused him to lose control of his mind. Some women is controlling his very movements right now and she ordered him to kill me, so now he has enlisted the entire D'Haran Army to hunt me down. Now this bit is vital: I need you to make a cure from the venom in this log and somehow get it to me in this facilities' prison."

"One question: why is there venom in a log?"

"Simple; I improvised," Aang laughed, handing the log over to the scientist. "As added incentive to do this you can claim the patent on this new drug and I won't tell a soul that you didn't make it yourself. Have we got a deal?"

"Yes, I'll get it to you within a few hours." Just then the troopers finally burst through the door, guns extended, screaming for Aang to get on the ground. The boy lay down and expected to be dragged off to the cells, but instead he was electrocuted until he passed out.

The boy awoke in the jail cell with an extremely painful head. It felt like someone had taken out his brain, blended it and then put it back in. He rubbed his head gently and opened his eyes. He was in a tiny cell with one bed and solid, purple-coloured bars covering the front of his cell. Aang gently reached forward and touched them, and was instantly thrown back into the opposite wall. If he had any hair it would be standing up right about now. Then he heard footsteps. Aang's heartbeat picked up, expecting it to be the scientist who could get him out of this predicament. But no, it was Arthur, with the same grey-dull nothing in his eyes. The Ninja opened up the cell and stepped inside, the bars closing behind him. He said nothing; he just walked towards the crumpled heap which was Aang and picked him up by the throat. His large hands slowly began to clench on the boy's throat, cutting off any hope of air and slowly killing him. Aang's hands began clawing at Arthur's, making deep scratches in the skin. The Avatar was just too exhausted to do anything else and was still in shock from the electric blast that had been given off by the cell walls. All the boy wanted to do was sleep, sleep for an eternity. And he could feel the eternity slowly creeping up on him as the darkness began to speckle his vision. And just as the last bit of light began to fade from his brain he remembered the first mission he had been on Arthur; watching the man fight, kill hundreds of those terrorists with nothing but his swords. Then, before Aang passed away he took one last glance of the Arthur's eyes – nothing. The Avatar could feel the anger beginning to boil inside him once more, beckoning him to break free of the iron-grip. Aang roared, a deep tremendous sound that shook the entire building and grabbed Arthur's hand, wrenching it off his throat. Aang stepped towards the massive man, boiling rage inside him. For a second Aang thought he saw his friend smile as he lunged forward, driving his small fist into the massive man's stomach. The giant toppled to the ground and Aang stood over him, the anger beginning to fade. More rushing footsteps as the scientist arrived holding a vial. He stopped dead when he saw Aang on top of Arthur though,

"Oh my god, you're a terrorist!" He screamed, attempting to run away. But Aang just sent a gust of wind flowing from behind the man and sent him flying into the prison cell. Aang wrenched the vial from the man's hands and carefully poured it down his friend's throat. Within minutes it began to take hold, slowly restoring colour to his partner's eyes. And then when the happy, lively eyes were back Arthur began spluttering and coughing. He looked at Aang and smiled.

"Thank you, Aang, you saved my life!"

"Now you can save mine," Ang said, gesturing to the few dozen troops that had their guns pointed at him.

Later that day, Aang still had gotten no sleep and was en-route to taking down some of the most dangerous criminals Jurai had ever seen. Thankfully he had back-up: Arthur and a dozen of their best soldiers were riding with them in the helicopter.

They touched down in the middle of the village where Aang had dragged Arthur earlier that day. The soldiers in the helicopter poured out and began securing the area. Arthur made his way to enter the house but Aang stopped him. He didn't want to give them the satisfaction of taking down any of his men. The D'Haran men would not go in there, risking their lives; those terrorists would come out, or burn. Aang set alight the top of the house and waited. Seconds passed, and then minutes, then the house burnt to the ground along with the terrorists. Aang felt nothing. He was empty of emotion despite being filled with the knowledge he'd just watched someone burn to death. What was he turning into? What sort of monster was he becoming when he did not even care that he had killed three people. He used to cry at the thought of kill someone. This world had changed him. It had made him a cold, efficient killer which meant he could deal justice where nobody else could. But would he keep on changing, would he become like those that he looked down upon each and every day of his job?

The boy's eyes glistened with tears because he did not want to fail her, he could not fail Ange but something deep down in his soul didn't care.

_Am I a monster?_


	3. Chapter 3

Alright Name: Hero or Villain?  
Difficulty: Easy  
Description: A small town is under attack by terrorists. The inhabitants of the town are a defenseless and peace loving people. A hero must come to protect them. The leader of the terrorists is willing to hire a cold blooded killer to do the job of killing them. What will you decide to do?

Arthur lead Ang into the elevator and folded his arms behind his back. Ang skipped in - rather excited at his very first mission. And he was even happier because he was genuinely helping people. Arthur had briefed him on the mission downstairs and had also warned him about guns. Somehow Arthur knew Ang was not from this time.

The elevator opened up onto the rooftop which was actually just a gigantic helicopter pad. It had the space for five helicopters, but only remained. The remaining helicopter only had space for two people. It was small and light and equipped with more firepower than an entire infantry platoon.

Arthur climbed into the pilots seat and gestured for the small boy to climb into the passenger seat. The attack chopper slowly rose into the air, and then blasted forward.

During the journey Ang couldn't help notice the joystick on his side of the helicopter. There was a giant red button on the top of the stick just begging to be pushed. The Avatar jabbed the button and in response two giant missiles shot out from the small frame and crashed into a small village below. Arthur didn't even blink an eye.

Sometime later Arthur spoke, "We're coming in to the location now. We'll need to find a place to land." Seconds after he said that a flashing light appeared on the screen. "Shit. Anti Air Guns have a lock on us."

Ang said nothing. He just leaped from the helicopter. Falling through the air Ang could see four missiles twirling through the air towards the aircraft. He propelled himself through air towards the missiles and then set himself into a spinning motion - sending blades of air spinning from his body. The rockets were cut to pieces and sent spinning off towards the ground.

Resuming his free-fall the monk could see the AA Gun site. He shot forward, passing through a small poof of smoke as he broke the sound barrier.

As he connected with the Earth a massive explosion erupted from where he hit. A gigantic plume of flame engulfing him and everyone else. But when the flame dissipated Ang was still standing there. The same stupid smile on his face. He watched as Arthur's helicopter descended not far from where he was.

Ang came running up to the Warrior who was now getting out of his aircraft.

"Nicely done, Avatar." Arthur complimented, "The village is due North from here. I will approach the village from the West, and you go in for the head on attack. Try not to get killed though because if you die I'm going to have to do all the work."

"Alright, let's go!"

The boy crouched low behind a rock by the town's gates. The town was surrounded by a huge wall on every side. It was initially intended to keep rodents out but now - in the terrorist's hands it had become a fortress. Walking the walls were men about 3 paces from each other, guns cradled in their arms. The gate was closed. It looked like solid steel so it would be very hard to break. Suddenly a light bulb went off in Ang's head. He stood up and slowly walked towards the town gates.

A man's head popped over the top of the wall. "Scram, kid before I put thirteen cents of lead in you.

"But my Mummy's in there!" Ang screamed, forcing tears into his eyes,

The man just raised his rifle in response. All of a sudden Ang's smile was replaced by a snarl as he shot up into the air coming down upon the man on the wall. He smacked the man's head into the stone ground, grabbed the gun and vaulted over the wall - into the cover of the houses.

The boy had no idea how the these guns worked so he grabbed the smaller end and prepared to swing. He slowly crept through each individual alleyway until he heard rushing footsteps. He quickly ducked behind a corner and then at exactly the right moment he swung, sending a shockwave of air along with it. The boy heard three distinctive cracks and many more thuds. Ang peered round the corner to see three men dead and several more unconscious. He remembered what he was suppose to do and sent a massive fireball into the sky which was suppose to act as a signal to Arthur and also a way of drawing attention to himself.

Ang heard more footsteps, but these ones were heavy and numerous so he quickly climbed into a nearby window and waited. He peered out the window as they passed. There were at least twenty of them, crowded into the alleyway. Every single one of them had the same large, hulking frame. They all wore funny masks and all black clothing. The rifles they held in their hands were extremely large and had two barrels instead of one.

The Avatar decided it wouldn't be wise to fight them all at once so he steadied himself on the ledge of the window and leaped the five metre gap to another window. He tried to be as quiet as possible but unfortunately there was a table of some sort just underneath the window - he crashed into it and ended up in a heap. He heard the exasperated shouts of the men outside just as the room he was in was instantly filled with holes. A small canister rolled into the room and a green gas began pouring out. The monk had no idea what the gas did but he knew it couldn't be good. So he clenched his fists, stood up and then threw his arms out wide, sending a huge blast of air from every centimeter of his body. The entire house around him splintered into pieces and the men outside the house were blown back and turned into a carpet of mangled bodies. In no way had this helped the boy since he was now completely out in the open and he'd drawn even more attention to himself.

But nobody else came, which was lucky for Ang but bad for whoever was getting shot at on the other side of the city. The monk decided this would be as good a time as any to take a peak around the city.

Ang, half running, half flying sped towards the centre of town. He figured that's where the most exciting things were bound to be happening. When he arrived he had to quickly skid to a halt, because he had walked right into a terrorist meeting. There were definitely no less than a 1,000 terrorists surrounding a small wooden stage in the very center. On the stage was Arthur - beaten to a pulp and completely unconscious. And around him were a few dozen other villagers. Standing over the prisoners was a man clad in a fiery red. He appeared to be the leader of this legion of terrorists. Ang didn't have time to take in much more because the soldier on the stage had seen him as he burst into the meeting.

"Seize him!"

Instantly the entire faction of terrorists began running forward at him, growling like rabid dogs. Ang jumped up onto the first man's head and daintily skipped on top of all of the soldiers until he reached the stage. He made to grab Arthur and retreat but all of a sudden he felt a massive force drive into his temple just before he too, lost consciousness.

Ang awoke to the sight of the red-clad terrorists mask. The monk jerked back in shock, not really realizing where he was. His head was throbbing with pain. He could already feel it starting to swell.

"Good Afternoon legionnaires!" The leader was welcomed with a raucous cheer. "Sitting behind me are our volunteers for the sacrifice!" He was met with another exuberant cheer. "They have gladly accepted the wonderful opportunity of allowing us gateway to Heaven! Bring forth the key!"

The swarms of terrorists parted for a gigantic eight-foot man hefting a machine the size of a small car. The man seemed to take no strain in holding the object at all, even though judging by the size and density it was over three tonnes.

The hulking beast of a man placed the device carefully on the stage before the fire-clad man and stepped back in awe.

"This, gentlemen is my own version of the Death bomb. Two tonnes of a very potent weed killer rest in this device. Not only will the initial blast kill us, leaving a scar bigger than the grand canyon in the Earth. It will also spread the toxic gas halfway around the world destroying the precious rainforest our race is so desperate to save." The leader grinned at his men. "Now, men are you ready for the final finale?" He was met with a stunning roar of agreement. "Here we go."

The terrorist's finger almost as if in slow motion began to move towards the button. The Avatar acted instinctively, despite being tied up he sucked up a gigantic gust of wind and blew it out onto the leader who was flung into the crowd. Ang quickly burnt away the ropes around his hands and feet and caught the remote control in mid-air. He spun, grabbing Arthur as he went and quickly looked for an escape-route. He swung Arthur over his shoulders and leaped towards the muscle-bound brute in front of him. He used the man as a trampoline and rocketed up, into the sky.

The boy collapsed just on the outskirts of town from the rough landing. He'd landed in a thicket of prickles and it had hurt all the more because he had to use all of his limbs to stop Arthur getting hurt, and more importantly the remote getting activated. Ang quickly stowed the small device away in a hollowed out tree and turned around to look at Arthur who was beginning to wake up.

Ang quickly stuffed him behind a tree and sprinted off. He waited just around the corner of the city gates. As soon as all of the terrorists were outside of the town he ran up the wall and with a little boost of air he managed to get over. The monk sprinted the city gates and began searching for the control switch to lower the gates. He knew that the terrorists wouldn't continue looking if they saw the gates close, because they would assume Ang had taken the remote with him. He found the controls and began lowering them. Then he jumped down to the opening in the gates and spread a line of fire across the front, stopping any terrorists from sprinting in before the gate closed. With everything in hand he begun making his way to the town centre.

There were only five guards left to stay with the prisoners and they didn't seem to be doing much guarding. They were all lying down drinking beer. Ang slowly walked up to them and hoisted them all up with a gust of air and with screams of shock and pain they were flung into a house. The monk didn't even care whether they were dead or alive at this point. The Avatar quickly untied all of the peasants and began leading them to the other side of the town's walls.

When he got there he began smashing the wall with blasts of fire. Slowly melting away the wall. Eventually there was a hole big enough for a few people to go through at a time. Ang cooled it down with a big blast of air and then ducked through the hole, signaling to the others to follow him through.

Ang and his motley crew of survivors stalked through the bush. He could hear the sounds of the soldiers rustling through the bushes so he changed course away from the sounds. Next thing he knew there was a gun pressed to his head and dozens of soldiers surrounding him. The man in red was slouched against a tree some distance away. Ang scowled with hatred at the red-clad man and spun, created a gigantic whirlwind, flinging the soldiers away from him. But more just took their place.

"Look, boy, if you do not tell us where the device is I will kill you, I will kill all your little friends and more importantly," he brought Arthur from behind a tree who still looked half asleep. "I will kill your partner."

Ang looked at Arthur, the once huge and dominating figure was reduced to a confused child. Avatar looked back on all the prisoners, most of them were crying, and the bravest ones were the ones who had blocked out everything. Ang didn't think about the consequences of giving the device over to the terrorists, he just looked at the people who had been hurt and started walking towards where he hid the remote.

The boy crouched low and felt around the tree for the remote, and very carefully brought it out and placed it in the hands of a killer. The leader smiled.

"Round them up, men, we're going back to the bomb!"

Ang gripped the leader's arm, "you said you wouldn't kill them!"

"Well I meant I wouldn't kill them right that second, so basically you gave me the device in exchange of giving them an extra few minutes to live," the man turned and began walking away.

Ang watched him walk, feeling the anger burning up inside him.

The Leader turned back, "Oh by the way you're free to go. See how far you can get before the gas catches up with you." He started walking again chuckling. Ang slumped to the ground and buried his head in his hands. He'd failed. All he ever wanted to do was help people and he couldn't even do that. He didn't even have the courage to kill those that deserved it.

"I have failed you, Ange."

As soon as Ang had said it he wondered what he had said. he had absolutely no clue who Ange was but as he said the name he found himself filled with an immense feeling of hope.

"I can't let Ange down. I won't fail her." Even though he had no idea who she was, he felt himself driven by her. She had sparked an insatiable anger within him. He stood up, clenched his fists and shot into the sky. He burst through the clouds and began to fall. He fell like a spear, seemingly cutting the sky in half as he fell. The angry boy spotted the distinct red dot as he fell and summoned all of his energy to his legs, propelling him even faster towards the ground.

He saw the leader look up towards him a millisecond before Ang crashed into him, sending them both flying into a nearby building. The Avatar found the anger controlling everything he was doing. He picked himself up and began punching the man in the face. Over and over again.

Between Ang's punches he heard, "Push the button!" Ang turned around to see the remote lying on the ground and hundreds of troopers running towards him.

Ang flung himself towards the remote, knocking over a few dozen men as he did so. He scooped it up, and held it away from the never ending onslaught of mean as he blasted away with a mixture of fire and air. The Avatar was so relieved to see his friend stand up and begin beating down some soldiers with their own weapons.

Ang thought everything was going well, until he felt the ground tremble. He stood there along with the rest of his enemies, puzzled. Then the huge muscle-bound hulk of a man pushed his way through his comrades and stood before the boy. He held out his hand, obviously signaling for the remote. Ang just shook his head and quickly side stepped the massive sweeping hand. Ang lifted himself up into the air and landed behind the massive man and proceeded to swipe blow after blow into the brute's legs. The man stumbled but nothing happened. A circle had formed around Ang and this behemoth now, and Arthur was being pushed into the circle. Arthur tumbled to the ground and his swords were tossed after him. A chorus had sprung up,

"Fight, fight, fight!"

Arthur and Ang began circling the massive leviathan. The Avatar stepped backwards and then sprang forward, spinning in the air, sending blades of air spinning towards the massive man. They did nothing but slightly annoy him as he ran forwards, tackling Ang to the ground. Now the man was on top of him, punching him again, and again, and again. Arthur jumped onto the man's back and drove his swords deep into the behemoth's back. The man merely stood up and grabbed Arthur around the neck. Ang round forward and found himself being throttled as well.

His air was escaping as the leader stepped forward and picked up the controller. "Goodbye, boy, it'll be pleasant to watch down on you from Heaven whilst you burn in Hell!" He pushed the button.

Time froze. Ang looked around, Arthur's pain and shame in his eyes, he saw the villager's expressions – they didn't even care anymore. But the worst thing that Ang saw was the smug look on the leader's face.

Ang screamed, ripping free of the giant's grip he rammed through the lines and lines of troops. And through himself on top of the bomb, encasing himself in a shield of air he tensed waiting for the impact that would take his life away. He closed his eyes and tried to recall what little he could actually remember of his life. But then it hit him, shaking every bone in his body to brittle dust. And as his vision slowly faded to darkness he could only think that he had not failed Ange.

He felt at peace, the world was nothing but a still silence. But then there was a terribly bright, white light. It shone down upon him as he slowly drifted towards it and he smiled, finally feeling the warm embrace of paradise. But all of a sudden Arthur's face was there and another man's shining a light into his eyes.

He lived.


	4. Chapter 4

Cryochamber  
Location: Jurai  
Description:  
Some of the world's most hardened criminals could not be killed, and could not be contained in a conventional prison, so they were frozen - the only way to keep them under control. But some lunatic went into the Cryo Base with a small army of men and broke them out. The criminals must be found and re-contained at any means necessary and the one responsible for this must be punished, how he is punished is up to you.

Aang struggled to his feet, surveying the pool of blood that had formed while he had been unconscious. The battle had taken a lot out of him, and he was in need of a lot of rest. It seemed that fate wasn't going to be so kind though because he could hear the thumping blades of one of his helicopter's approaching and he knew that they weren't here to pick him up and take him safely back home. They were here because they needed his help...again.

The Aircraft touched down before him and Arthur hopped out. "Alright, where's our man?" He asked, looking around.

"What do you mean?" Aang questioned,

"The guy you were sent here to apprehend?"

"He got away," Aang replied, gesturing to his wounds.

"Oh, well don't worry buddy you can make it up to the D'Haran Arm, right now. Because - you can thank me later - we have to go on another mission. It's over on some remote island in the middle of nowhere and some super soldiers have escaped and guess what? They're invincible and it's our job to bring them back!" Arthur almost giggled with delight. Aang just sighed and got into the chopper with his giddy partner on his heels.

The Avatar couldn't even get to sleep on the ride over there because Arthur was busy wondering - out loud - what it would be like to be a Super Soldier. Aang didn't have the guts to try and tell Arthur that Super Soldiers was exactly what he and Arthur were meant to be.

After a long and tiresome helicopter ride they arrived at a beautiful tropical island - if it were not for the rubble strewn everywhere. It looked like a meteor shower had hit here and Aang was surprised there were any survivors at all, judging by the island's condition.

The boy hopped out of the chopper and looked around him; once lush and beautiful palm trees were stomped and flattened into the ground. There were pieces of concrete and wood strewn everywhere, littering the ground. Everything looked similar to a dump site right after it had been massacred. These Super Soldiers really meant business. There was a man standing amidst the rubble on the other side of the island. He was wearing a tattered lab coat which was ripped in several places and extremely dirty. Aang ran over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. The scientist just stood there. And then he began to sob. The boy patted the man's back, trying to offer some sort of comfort.

"Look I'll catch the bastards that did this to your lab," Aang said, trying to consol him.

"Well I'm the one responsible for this!" The man screamed, beginning to weep. "I decided to perform tests on them. Try and kill them. I should have just done my job and contained them! But one of them broke loose and freed all the others. I don't deserve to live."

"Yeah you don't" Aang scoffed, pushing over the man. The boy turned away and instantly realized what he had just said.

[i]What the hell is going on in my head?[/i]

The boy walked off and got into the helicopter and left Arthur to talk to Scientist who was now crying on the ground. After what seemed like hours the Swordsman climbed back into the aircraft.

"Well no thanks to you we've found out where some of the Super Soldiers may be. There's an old abandoned military site that one of the Soldiers use to always talk about. It's other in the mountains not too far from here. Try not to screw up this time, buddy."

They touched down in a small forest clearing at the bottom of a very steep mountain. His partner had a worried look on his face as they looked towards the mountain; Aang could just zoom up but Arthur would have to climb and it looked extremely treacherous. To prevent his friend from getting hurt Aang stayed at the bottom and kept pushing air up towards his friend; just in case he fell. Eventually Arthur made it to the top and Aang followed up on a ball of air in a matter of seconds. The Samurai just stood there, his jaw drooping slowly to the ground – admiring the speed with which Aang had gotten up the hill.

The Avatar ignored him and walked inside the derelict base. Anywhere you looked you say moss and cracks in the foundations. At any moment the entire base could topple down and crush both of them. Aang didn't really worry about it, knowing he'd find some way out of it by pure luck.

The two of them walked down a dark hallway until they reached a sliding metal door. It was slightly open and voices could be heard inside.

The first voice spoke, seeming to be in charge. "Look you idiot! We have to get out of here; they could be here any minute! Just grab the weapons and let's go!"

The second voice appeared to belong to someone very dumb. "But I don't wanna leave, Boss! All my toys are here."

"Let's just go!"

Aang opened the door at that moment taking in the two creatures. Both of them were reptilian. They were standing on two feet and they were both also supporting massive muscles. Just one of their biceps was bigger than the boy. They were massive in appearance and the Avatar could see why they'd been called Super Soldiers. The only noticeable difference between the two of them was the colour of their scales. One was a deep, dark purple. And the other was very bright green. The purple one appeared to be the leader whereas the other one appeared to be the simpleton moaning about toys.

"We're here to take you back," Aang declared, trying to sound tough.

"YOU?!" The leader scoffed, between laughs. "You're just a kid with his babysitter! Go away, boy, before you get hurt."

Aang did not take kindly to the monster's tone, so he darted forwards, driving his palm into the chest of the purple creature. The massive monster toppled over, crushing the green reptile's toys.

_Oops._

The green thing roared, crying at the same time as it looked down at its toys. It then looked up towards Aang and started bounding towards him, its fists curled into tight balls. The boy was not worried in the least. He just pushed his arms forward and sent the monster hurtling backwards a blast of air following.

"Look you two misfits," Aang snapped. "I just want to know where the others are!"

"Why?" The green one asked.

"Because they're the real threat unlike you two rejects!" Aang roared.

"Okay okay! They're over on some island called "The Rockys". Said they were looking for some food."

"Arthur, take them back to the Scientist and get them contained. Then met me at the island to pick up the bodies of the other monsters."

"Aang, do you seriously believe you can take them all out by yourself?" Arthur asked,

"I believe in myself," Aang stated, walking out of the door. The boy walked out into the wide open space of the jungle and jumped down to the helicopter. He took out his bending staff and tapped it on the ground. The staff instantly sprouted wings from the side. Aang smiled and grabbed hold of the small wings on either side. he gathered air around himself and used it to throw him into the sky to the Rocky Island where the creatures that may very take his life resided.

_I sure hope I know what I'm doing._

The child spotted the island in the distance. It was settled on the horizon and from here Aang could already see smoke rising into the sky. It was forming a thick, black cloud of toxic fumes above the small island. Something was obviously going on there, and the small boy was absolutely determined to find out what it was.

He lowered his aircraft towards the sea. Skimming over the tops of waves so it would be harder for them to see his approach. The sea spray kicked up into his face and blinded him, so he just closed his eyes and let the wind guide him to the rocky island.

Finally he reached the beach and floated downwards. He tapped his staff on the ground again and caused the wings to fold back in. He slung the wooden pole over his back and summoned a ball of air beneath his feet. He set off, hovering through the forest that surrounded the jungle, kicking up leaves and rocks as he went. He was scooting around the bases of the gigantic rocky mountains where he guessed the Soldiers probably were hiding out.

He would search those later though, right now his priority was putting out the flames and saving this island from turning into a burning slab of rubble.

He reached the fire. It was huge, covering a massive area of trees and plantation. Aang stayed on his small ball of air but withdrew his staff from his back and held it at ready. When he saw the fire begin to absorb more oxygen he struck. He scooted right into the centre of the fire, spinning his staff over the top of his head. Soon he began to generate a hurricane, twirling and roaring around him.

The boy began to feel the raging heat around him recede so he let his hurricane dissipate. Around him was a gigantic clearing where the trees and bush had been completely wiped away by his hurricane. At the edges of the clearing were piles of wood and leaves, entangled amongst each other.

_Phew, that was close._

"Who put out my fire!" Aang heard a roar from behind him. He turned around to see an extremely grumpy, fat man, pushing trees over as he crushed his way up to the boy. His head was equal with the treetops and he was absolutely disgusting. He stank of putrid filth and his face was caked with dead meat. He wore a white singlet and what looked like underwear. His shirt and pants were stained yellow and his massive belly stuck far out in front of him. "Hey you!" He screamed. "How am I going to cook my dinner now!" he held a rope and attached to the rope were over a dozen pigs, some of which were still alive.

"It's time for you to go back where you came from, fatty," Aang laughed, gently jabbing the man's massive potbelly.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget, lad!" The obese monster roared, and swiped his hand at Aang. It came slowly, a sloth could have dodged his blow. The Avatar casually ducked underneath the massive sweaty palm and stared at the behemoth with his arms folded and a broad grin on his face.

The giant smashed his hands against his chest and tried several more times, failing to make Aang even try. The monk could see the anger beginning to build in the big man's eyes. He was beginning to lose control - Aang didn't know if that would be detrimental or helpful to the giant.

The leviathan of a man raised his leg and brought it crashing down towards Aang. It was also a slow labored blast and Aang easily avoided it, but still metres from where the foot hit Aang was thrown back. The man's strike had caused a small earthquake around the sole of his foot. The boy had been far too cocky, next time he'd have to be more careful. The massive man went to smash his fist into the ground. But as his fist connected with the ground Aang jumped and swiped his staff through the air several times, sending blades of air spinning towards the giant's belly. The air simply dispersed as it bounced into the tremendous belly of the man.

He just laughed at Aang's poor display of power causing a scowl to sprout up on the boy's face.

_I doubt my fire will affect him either. He's just too fat. I never thought being that fat could be a good thing._

The giant went to stomp his leg again and Aang jumped once again but this time the obese man was ready. As the boy leaped into the air the leviathan belched. The burp was so incredible that it sent Aang hurtling backwards, wanting to vomit from the incredible stench that had been created.

The child clambered to his feet and quickly threw himself aside as another deadly burp came flying his way. The tree that Aang was standing in front of was shattered into splinters as the gas passed through. Aang could swear the remains of the tree began to dissolve as well.

_I have to come up with a plan fast, or soon I'll be just like that tree._

The man belched again causing Aang to roll aside once again. It was then that the boy noticed when the man was most vulnerable - when he opened his mouth.

Aang waited until the man went to belch again and gripped his staff tight in his hands. He was about to make this Soldier very annoyed.

The boy closed his eyes and waited for the gas to come rushing at him. He heard the vibrating sound of the gas being released and waited until the very last second. Then he jumped into the air, rising above the toxic green mist and sent a ball of fire into the gas. Instantly the gas was lit up into a massive inferno. It raced back up its original path and into its creators mouth. He hurriedly shut his mouth before more flames could get in but the damage had already been done. Aang bounced forward, driving the butt of his staff into the belly of the man, sending a shockwave of air exploding from the end. The man toppled backwards, creating a massive earthquake as he landed which sent Aang onto his feet as well.

The monk hurried to his feet and then sprinted over the top of the man's big belly. Then he pinned the side of the leviathan's face to the ground and began smashing his staff into the fatty temple of the man until he was well and truly unconscious. He then withdrew his staff and shoved it up into the air, sending a ball of fire into the sky.

It stayed, suspended by air, showing Arthur exactly where the big man was.

_Boy, I wonder how they're going to transport this guy._

The Avatar put his staff over his back again and began walking towards one of the rocky mountains. He decided not to get on his air scooter again because it would draw far too much attention to himself. He did not want to attract all of their attention at once.

Once he reached the base he looked up, and saw the peak, high at the top. The very top of the mountain scratched the sky, tearing through the clouds like the dominating force that it was. The boy began to traverse the mountainside, slipping and sliding off of gravel and rocks as he went.

After an age of climbing he reached a flat plateau cut into the side of the cliff. It was expertly cut, leaving few scratches and imperfections in the smooth surface. It looked like a battle area.

Up above him was another plateau giving the impression of a staircase. The only way to get up the steep cliff would be to jump or fly - this was obviously not naturally made. The boy approached the cliff face and examined it. It too was very smooth and well crafted. It looked like someone had taken great time and care to create this. Must have taken years.

Suddenly there was a scraping sound above the Avatar. He looked up to see a rock slowly topple of the edge and come flying towards him. Aang had to quickly flip backwards, out of the way of the hazardous rock. Soon more and more rocks began to fall from the sky. Aang had to dance between them, but eventually they began to block out the sky, sending Aang into shade.

_At least I won't get sunburnt._

The boy pushed his staff upwards, creating a tunnel to the sky between the rocks. He pushed off the ground and shot up through the gap he had created. Below him he could see the ground littered with dozens of rocks.

He landed gently on the plateau up above and was shocked to see two heads sticking out of the ground, looking at him menacingly.

They were half-submerged in the ground, cracks spreading around them. They had an evil tint to their eyes and they seemed to share the same intent as each other: killing Aang.

Aang positioned himself into a battle stance and squared off against the two strange men. They rose from the ground so that they were only buried to their knees.

"You will have to get through us to reach our Master," they both chimed in unison. "And there is no way a child like yourself could get through the two of us."

"We'll see," Aang scoffed back. Then once again they submerged themselves in the ground, completely disappearing from Aang's view.

All of a sudden something exploded behind Aang and caught him in the spine, sending him tumbling to the ground. His face grated against the ground and sent blood smearing along the smooth surface. Suddenly a fist shot up from the earth and slammed into Aang's face, leaving nothing but a small pile of dust.

The Avatar quickly rolled to his feet and danced backwards, but right away one of the men had risen up and went to punch the boy. But Aang was too quick catching the creature's fist and pushing him back. But his partner was already there, ready to slam into the boy's back.

The monk was sent to the ground again. Aang groaned in pain as the onslaught continued from beneath the earth. They were relentless, constantly attacking him with blow after blow. The child was weak with pain, but he managed to push himself up, dodging the blows as he did.

And then there was a lull in the offensive to Aang closed his eyes and calmed himself. He felt the ground vibrate beneath him, each small movement vibrating up his legs and into his body. Then he felt a much stronger vibration just beside him, he struck out before he had even heard or seen anything, and found his fist connecting with the face of one of the men. Acting instinctively Aang let out a rush out air from his fist, sending the man hurtling backwards, out of the ground where he lay, motionless. But the second one was still lingering underneath him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Aang glanced over as the man he had just taken out began to groan, and that was all the ground-dweller needed. He rose up, out of the ground, grabbing Aang by his waist and dragging him down into the earth. The boy was surrounded by hot, moist mud on each side, he was suffocating. If he let in a breath his lungs would be flooded with the disgusting substance. he could feel it crawling up his nose, begging to get into his body, begging to kill him. He could feel the man's grip loosen and slink away, leaving him here to die.

_I am dying..._

The Avatar felt the last of his air slowly evaporate from his lungs, and with it his remaining life. The darkness around him began to slowly creep in as the sweet welcoming of death came to greet the boy.

_Ange..._

Aang tensed his entire body with what little energy he had left and shot to the surface, air flooding around him, destroying any mud that stood in his path.

He emerged from the ground, covered in mud, flying into the air and crashing to the ground below. He slammed into the ground with relief. Relief that he could feel pain. He drew air into his lungs and slowly climbed to his feet. He saw the man that had dragged him under huddled over his friend, trying to wake him up. The boy watched as the creature slowly turned around with shock. His mouth spread open wide as he saw the muddy monk. Coated head to toe in the thick, slimy goo.

The ground-dweller dove for the ground, a hole opening up to accept him, but Aang was to quick and not in the mood for anymore silly games. He pushed his hand forward, slamming the man into the stone wall behind him. He held him there, wind buffeting forwards into the lanky, decrepit figure. The Avatar slowly walked up to him, and then with one violent strike he punched the man in the gut, a resounding boom shocking the very mountain's foundations as the blow connected.

Aang stared at the pair and rose his staff into the air, sending another blast of fire into the sky.

The boy crouched down low to the very first one he had taken out. He was beginning to regain consciousness which Aang didn't like one bit.

"Where are the others?" Aang asked, patiently at first. No reply. "Where are the others?" Aang repeated. No reply. The Avatar summoned a ball of flame into his hand and opened his victim's eye between forefinger and thumb. He slowly drew the ball of fire closer and closer to the man's exposed eye. The creature quivered with fear as his eye began to bleed but Aang did not slow.

"Okay, okay! Our master is further beyond, where the mountain cuts into the sky." Aang grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the ground.

"Thanks."

The boy stood up and looked upwards. He was about halfway up the mountain and he could see what they were talking about: it was what he had noticed at the base of the mountain, where the tip broke through the clouds. Beyond those clouds would be Aang's last, and greatest opponent. The boy tapped his stick on the ground, spreading its wings. He grabbed hold and jumped off the mountain, soaring into the sky and twirling around towards the top.

As Aang climbed further up the mountain he began to notice that there was less and less oxygen, he found it harder to breathe and harder to make his glider climb the sky. But he still managed to break through the clouds, only just though. As he disappeared through the mist he looked down to the ground below and saw the flares he had set far below him. They were just tiny pinpricks now.

The Avatar saw what he was looking for; the tip of the mountain. the top of the mountain curled around like am massive talon, and sitting atop the talon was another plateau, probably made by those ground-dwellers below. In the centre of the plateau was a man holding two very lethal looking swords. They were curved and serrated - they could cause a lot of damage. At the end of each blade was a small hook - even more dangerous. The man wielding the blades was tall and thin. His skin was pale and his black hair drooped below his shoulders, masking half of his face. He had a set of very sharp looking fangs that seemed to taunt the boy.

Aang descended down to the smooth surface below and held his staff out in front of him.

"You may have been able to send my friends back to that place but me...well I'm a different league altogether. You will regret the day you came up here, boy." The man sneered, showing off his fangs. "Maybe if you started begging I might let you live."

"I was about to say the exact same thing to you," Aang joked, smiling. He was still caked in mud and it did not help him seem more confident in front of his opponent. "Look I've had a rough day, so how about you just come on down and get locked up back in your hole again?"

The man just smiled and then disappeared. Suddenly Aang felt a blade being pushed to his neck but he couldn't see anyone around him. Then the swordsman became visible.

"You may want to reconsider, boy, I have the power of the shadows to cloak me and the swiftness of the ninja to guide me. There is no way you can stop me."

_So he can go invisible and he can teleport...damn._

Aang kept his face expressionless - he didn't want to give away what he was about to do. He slowly began to summon all of the air to himself, causing a slight breeze which he hoped his opponent would not notice.

When he had all the air he needed Aang burst it out of him, driving his hands forward and sending his opponent and his blades spinning away. The boy gripped his staff as the swordsman vanished once again. He closed his eyes and listened and felt the air particles around him move.

He heard the clanging of air somewhere to his right and span, raising his staff. He managed to catch both blades on his wooden pole, instantly he saw a shimmer which resembled the swordsman. Aang kicked out, slamming his foot into the man's gut, making him even more visible. The swords unhooked from Aang's staff and went flying off the edge.

The man had lost his invisibility and he had lost his weapons, he was gone.

_Damn this was far too easy._

Aang regretted that thought as he was caught in the face with a solid fist and thrown backwards. The boy managed to regain his footing but he was instantly pelted with thousands of punches at once, each causing an unimaginable amount of pain towards the boy.

The Avatar cringed and cried out as his body was tortured. The man did not show any mercy as he continued to teleport and attack. Teleport and attack. Aang fell to his knees, letting the onslaught come.

This was it, this was the end of the Avatar. Aang closed his eyes and fell to the ground, accepting his fate. But then the attack stopped. He opened his eyes as he saw Arthur, holding the swordsman's hand. Aang's attacker was shocked and screamed in pain as Aang's friend began to squeeze the thin man's wrist until the bones began to crack.

The boy just lay there watching as Arthur subdued the swordsman, laying into him with every attack he possessed - the swordsman was far too tired and surprised to actually fight someone who could fight back so he just lay there and took the punishment as Aang had done moments ago. Then it was all over, as soon as it had started the man was beaten and it was all over.

"It's okay, Aang, I've got you," Arthur said, picking the boy up and making his way down the mountain as soldiers rushed past and began to secure the swordsman who had almost ended it all.


	5. Chapter 5

The boy stood at attention in his Commander's office while the man filed through a pile of papers on his desk. The Commander looked extremely frustrated but when he looked up from his work and into Aang's eyes he seemed to be filled with fear. The Avatar stared, puzzled at the man's terror. The officer grew pale because it looked like he had just realized something; something that had shocked him into this state.

"Sir," Aang asked. "Are you alright, sir?"

He slowly shook his head, still staring at the boy, his bottom lip beginning to quiver. Aang walked around the desk to try and snap his commander out of it but as he approached the man he spotted a couple of files on top of the desk. They all read "Top Secret" and they all seemed ominous. One file was of a man called "Doctor Doom". Aang had no idea who that was but he didn't like the sound of the name. The file beneath that was entitled: "The Doomsday Bomb", the boy didn't like the sound of that either. And then the final file was of a spaceship which had no name but appeared to belong to Doctor Doom.

Aang carefully read through the files and soon pieced together what was really happening. He gripped his Commanding Officer with small but strong fists and shook him wildly, "What the hell is going on?"

"The end of the world, Aang," he laughed. "The end of everything we know and love."

Aang punched him in the face, "Where the hell is the ship!" Aang roared, raising his fist again. His Commander just didn't seem to care what the Monk did - he'd lost all hope.

But he slowly raised his arm and pointed North, up into the sky and as he pointed he began to shake. Aang sprinted out of the office, making for the air pad, but the Officer shouted after him as he went. "The fate of the world rests on in your small arms, Aang! So guess what? We're doomed."

Aang ignored his words and began taking the stairs four steps at a time, eventually just jumping whole flights of stairs. He met Arthur on the way up and just pushed past him, almost sending him plummeting to an early death.

The boy burst out onto the Air pad and leaped off the edge. He took his Staff off of his back as he went and forced the glider to come forth. He held on tightly and pulled out of the dive, catching onto the wind and soaring into the sky. In the distance he could see a small speck of darkness just going over the horizon. The ship was half a word away from its target, but if it got there before Aang could stop it the cultural capital of Jurai would be destroyed instantly, killing millions of people. And days or even hours later the planet would surely die. These thoughts did not deter him, they only made him more determined to reach that ship, and punish anyone inside.

Almost as if on queue the wind began to pick up and Aang was thrust forward with renewed speed, his glider smoothing out and shooting directly towards the massive behemoth of a ship ahead of him.

Within only fifteen minutes he had caught up with the ship, so he swooped down and landed on the top of the space craft, holding his staff out defensively. All of a sudden, dozens of turrets turned to face him, and a stream of laser fire rocketed out from the guns towards him. Aang rolled, just avoiding the attacks but they kept following him so he had to roll again, and again and each time he'd catch his body on another piece of the ship, cutting and bruising his small limber body.

[i]God dammit I have to stop this before I'm cooked alive![/i]

The Avatar stood up and sprinted straight for one of the turrets, it grew confused and didn't know what to do, because if it fired on the boy it would also be destroyed in the process, so it just sat there staring at him. The monk landed on to top of the machine and huddled down close, he could already feel the other turrets targeting him. He heard the cannons go off with a loud crack and jumped, just as the turret he was just standing on was blown into pieces. A hole appeared right where the gun had been and it lead directly into the ship. Aang brought air around himself and flipped over, pointing his head towards the hole. He straightened out his body and kicked out his legs, sending himself shooting down into the hatch just as more laser fire exploded where he had just been.

He found himself at the end of a hallway, illuminated red by the ship's strange lights. Aang took off down the hallway and found himself at a junction, he guess all of the red lighted hallways lead off to more of the turrets, so that would mean the darkened hallway lead out of the maze of tunnels.

He sprinted down the darkened tunnel, wind kicking up behind him, causing everything along the hallway to shake and creak as he roared past. After minutes of running he found himself in a Cafeteria, instantly technicians and soldiers looked up in shock and horror at the Avatar standing in the doorway.

Aang pointed his staff at one of the technicians, "Where is the Doomsday device!" Aang roared, air rushing from his mouth with tremendous force, causing him to sound much louder and older. The man did not reply, he just reached for a button on the desk. The monk reacted quickly, driving his staff through the air, sending the man flying backwards into a group of people. But it was too late, the button was flashing and people were already; running for the doorways - it was too late, Aang would have to fight his way to the bomb. Already soldiers were raising their weapons and firing at the boy, but in their hurry they continually missed but soon they would calm down, reload and kill him.

The Avatar swung his staff around himself, drawing a ball of air to consume him like a bubble. Bullets went into the ball and simply span away, the air protecting his small body.

Aang ran forward, his air bubble surrounding him, swiping out with his staff and sending men flying into walls, almost certainly killing them. Things seemed to be going fine but then the surrounding doors burst open and massive robots rushed in.

They were painted green and although they were robots they still managed to look incredibly evil. They were huge, and their arms sported lasers equal to the strength of their arms. The Avatar soon experienced the full power of the the guns one of the shots went straight through his air shield and into his body. The boy was thrown back, gasping for air, clutching his chest as his skin burnt away. The machines began to walk towards the child who was now defenseless. The formed a semi-circle around him and raised their lasers towards his face, but they did not fire, they simply stood there and stared.

After a few minutes Aang heard a clanking, metallic sound from beneath the floor. He peered between the gap's of Doombots and saw an elevator rising from the ground, little by little he could begin to see what was coming up on the elevator to just make his day worse.

There it was; the Doomsday Device. It was gigantic, far bigger than a bus. It was a massive metallic tube with funny looking gadgets and dials protruding all over it. The device was a sheer piece of engineering genius, every detail of it screamed technology, but along with the amazement came the despair, that that huge bomb would soon be dropped on Jurai. Standing beside the bomb was Doctor Doom himself, dressed in the same outfit that Aang had seen on the file. The Doctor walked towards the ring of robots and pushed through them. He then squatted in front of Aang and removed his mask. Beneath the mask was a horribly scarred face, showing signs of what had probably driven the man to be the way he was.

"I'm insulted that the D'Haran Arm would only send a mere child to take me down," Doom laughed. "You're pathetic, you couldn't even defeat my Doombots, let alone myself." Aang reacted, frustration and spite growing in his heart as he was insulted. He punched Doctor Doom in the face and stood up, leaping towards the man, but he found massive steel arms holding him back.

"Now who's the pussy!" Aang screamed, struggling against the machine's iron grip.

"Let him go," Doom commanded. "This could be interesting."

The Avatar shrugged the massive robots off of him and began to walk towards Doctor Doom.

"Come on, show me what you got," Doom taunted. The taunt proved successful because the suddenly sprinted towards the scientist, raising his fits, ready to strike. The man just grabbed Aang's arm and flipped him over, the boy landed on his back with a huge thud. The child did not relent, he instantly span to his feet and kicked out at Doomsday, this kick connected but it seemed to do absolutely nothing to the armored figure who just stood there taking it.

Doctor Doom bent down and grabbed Aang by his throat, be began to squeeze. "It's all over, boy," he smiled. "In a minute I will activate this bomb and drop it straight onto one of the largest cities in Jurai, millions will be killed instantly, and within days, weeks months, there will be nothing left on the planet. Everyone you've ever known, everyone you've ever loved will be gone, and so will you. You'll just be fortunate enough to die before you see all of your friends go up in flames. I'm going to be nice and kill you right now." He squeezed his hands harder and let a current of electricity begin to dance Aang's body.

The boy began to writhe in pain, struggling against the grip of the man as his body convulsed and burnt alive. Aang looked over his killer's shoulder towards the bomb, which sat there doing absolutely nothing but at the same time daring the boy to do something. The Avatar's face grew cold; the pain was lifted from his eyes and replaced by pure anger. Looking at the bomb he had realized, without Jurai he would never be able to find out who Ange was and in doing so he would fail her. This monster wanted to kill her, and the very thought of it flooded the Avatar with pure, burning hot hatred. His vision turned red, and the only thing he saw was Doctor Doom's face, scarred and hateful. There was no longer any air left in Aang's lungs and he should rightly be dead but for some reason he hung on. The boy's muscles tensed up and Doctor Doom found himself releasing the boy's neck. It was now Aang's turn to cause the pain.

"You want to kill Ange?" Aang asked,

"Who the hell is Ange?" Doctor Doom asked back,

"She's a girl down there who you're about to kill," Aang whispered. "You will not get away with this!" Aang roared; spreading his arms wide as fire cascaded from his body. The flame spread into a huge sphere, melting away the Doombots behind him and sending Doctor Doom flying back into a wall. Aang continued to roar as he began levitating up towards the ceiling. The entire ship began to melt away as the ball of fire grew larger and larger. The entire ship soon became a massive metal hulk of nothing, useless except to a salvage yard. Then the ship began to descend, cutting through the air and rocketing down towards the earth. Bits of the ship began to burn away as it shot down. Aang dissipated the flames around him and jumped on top of the Doomsday device. He hugged it tight and spread a hurricane around him and the device as the ship hit the ocean, splintering the metal instantly. The entire front half of the ship was crushed upon impact and the other half was submerged and still kept on going to the bottom. Eventually it came to rest at the bottom of the ocean, hundreds of metres below surface. \

Aang looked at the bomb, the water had short circuited the entire device. It was still incredibly dangerous but at least it no longer had a countdown. The boy picked up Doctor Doom and shot off to the surface, where he was greeted with Arthur, floating on the water in a sea helicopter.

"Nice job, kid."


	6. Chapter 6

Seeking Solace  
**  
**Act 1: Mercy

The rain drizzled down his face and ran into his eyes. He ignored the water that was causing the stinging pain in his eyes because it just helped to wash away the tears. Aang had been up here for over an hour now and he still felt exactly the same. He was on top of a mountain which looked over the city where he had been recruited. He could remember the confusion as his slumber was broken, as he burst from the ice prison where he had been kept. He could remember the shards of ice as he had surfaced, remember how the glistened and reminded him of where he had been, and yet he still could not remember.

The boy looked out to sea - where he had emerged, where he had began his new life in the D'Haran Arm. He hated that he was the only one they called on because it meant that if one day he couldn't be called on, then it would be the end of everything; including any chance of finding Ange. The Avatar looked towards the sky: the dark clouds encircling him, dropping its small seeds of depression on his already cloudy mood.

_Ange..._

Aang looked back out to the ocean, scanning the horizon. He wiped away the tears that were rolling down his face, disguised amidst the raindrops. His eyes were solemn and dark, but in an instant that were filled with flames, adopting the rage from deep within him he thrust his hand upwards, casting a pillar of flame into the sky, it pierced through the clouds, parting them and when the inferno ceased there was a small patch of sunlight which shone through the dark clouds, lighting itself only for Aang. The depression and anger slowly lifted away from his small frame and was replaced by determination. But not the same determination that had plagued him moments before, this determination filled him with hope, rather than anger, but still he did not feel he deserved to bare the right of happiness.

_When I can truly be happy with my life, then and only then will I smile._ He shifted his gaze once more to the ocean and picked up his staff from the ground. He did not take his eyes off of the spot where he would find his solace because deep down he was afraid if he blinked it would disappear along with all of his hope. He leaped off of the cliff, gripping his glider until his entire hands shone deathly white, and without blinking or straying his gaze he soared towards his only hope of sanity.

The wind pushed on his body, trying to force him to turn around but the boy was not interested in Mother Nature's will, because for once this was about himself. For once the Avatar was going to be selfish and risk his life to seek his own happiness. He did not think about the consequences to Jurai and the D'Haran Arm if he were to perish, he just thought about his sorrow and that's all he thought about as he fought against the elements which he had once controlled easily.

Then he saw it; the block of ice floating in the water. The block of ice which he had broken out of. This was the only link to his former life, and yet it was only a piece of ice - frozen water which meant nothing more to him than the dark-blue water that frothed and writhed around him. Aang dropped into the water, not even paying attention to the biting cold water which numbed his limbs and made it increasingly hard to swim. But he dove down deeper anyway, fighting back the chilling pain that had now consumed his entire body.

He swam, deep down to the bottom of the ocean, ignoring the burning sensation in his lungs as the oxygen seeped away, along with his life. When he reached the bottom he found a girl, lying face down at the bottom of the ocean, he reached out and slowly turned her over, squinting through the murky blackness he tried to see her face.

_Ange..._ Her face was rigid with pain, pain as she had drowned to death while she had been asleep, beside Aang. He'd left her there as he surfaced, seeking air he left her lying at the bottom of the ocean. She would have waken up, to see the love of her life, her guardian angel swimming away from her, leaving her to die. The Avatar stayed with her, clasping her hands in his own, crying unseen tears. He looked up to the sky only to see the the surface of the water, where he had failed Ange. The surface danced as more sorrow dripped down from the sky.

Aang bowed his head in shame and as the last life fled from his consciousness he kissed her and as the blackness descended upon him he could feel her kissing back.

The sensation stayed on his lips throughout the murky darkness, telling him that the darkness would not be forever. It gave him a shining hope towards the future, it showed him the way out of the dark. He touched his lips as he clawed through the black shadows, trawling through inky fog his hand finally came free. He wrenched with all of his might, pulling himself free from his entrapment.

He collapsed on a stone floor, his skin scraping against the rock, causing him to flinch. The boy looked up to what he had came out of; it was a hole in the wall, filled with some sort of fog, and in the hole were blue shapes. Aang peered closer and closer until suddenly a ghostly face tried to wrench itself out from the darkness as he had but to no avail. Aang stepped back, worried about being sucked back into that deathly prison.

The Avatar turned his back on the souls, trapped away and examined where he was: he was in what appeared to be an underground tunnel, judging by the dark, rocky roof and the murky flowing river that was just in front of him. Suddenly a small wooden boat pulled alongside the monk, a man at the helm, cloaked in a pitch-black robe. But there were no hands clutching the oar, only bones. The man's face was hidden in the shadows of his hood but still Aang could feel his piercing eyes examine the boy.

"Come, Aang," the man said. "We have much to see." He gestured towards the boat, and Aang thought he could detect the faintest hint of a smile. The boy had no over choice; he had no idea where he was and it appeared to be a skeleton - what could a skeleton do to him?

They floated down the river, occasionally passing more robed figures on the shoreline. They glared at the Avatar, hissing as the boat sailed on past. The man steering the boat simply ignored them, as if they weren't really there - he probably felt right at home with the monsters down here.

Slowly the river began to widen out, the smooth stoned walls slowly curving outwards until finally they came out into a massive open canal. On either side of the canal were hundreds upon thousands of shrieking souls, clawing at each other. When they saw the boat sail past they all made a mad dash to get on. But as they dove into the water they were simply evaporated, as if the water was extremely acidic. Aang put his finger into the water only to find it was nothing but ordinary water.

"Why do they get killed when they touch the water but I don't feel a thing?" Aang asked the oarsmen.

"That's simple, Aang," he laughed. "This is holy water."

The Avatar sat, puzzled at the concept. Ahead of them lay a gigantic metal gate which slowly began to open up, making way for them. The gate was carved in such a way that if any tried to scale it they would soon be impaled. Spikes ran the entire way up the gate, they pointed upwards offering a good foothold, but the edges appeared to be razor sharp, which would mean you'd be in for a pleasant surprise if you attempted to get over the gate.

As they passed through the gate Aang noted more black robed guards, holding various weapons. Some of which Aang had never seen before in his life. Most of them held scythes with blackened metal along the shaft and intricate carvings of dragons or snakes along them. But all of the weapons had one thing in common; they were deadly. The Airbender turned away from the gut wrenching site and looked ahead once more. There was massive plain ahead of them, following the river. This plain appeared to be empty of any civilized life but occasionally Aang would see a pair of red eyes gazing at him from within the shadows. The boy knew that they would not leave this entire plain unguarded for no reason, there was probably something that both the guards and the souls feared. Aang didn't dare to look at the eyes for a moment longer, he once again turned his attention to forwards and there he saw, far in the distance was a dark, foreboding palace that rested on top of a cliff. The monk couldn't make out any details from this distance but he could still feel a chill in the air. It traveled up his spine and into his brain, causing him to shudder with fear. Whatever was in that castle was truly evil.

After another half hour of traveling they came to a settlement. Many people crowded around to watch as they passed onwards. The beings of the village were human, or at least appeared to be if it weren't for their pale blue skin. It gave them a luminescent glow and made their eyes appear even darker. Aang tried to ignore them but found their gaze compelling; they appeared to be miserable, their eyes showed it even though their faces remained emotionless. They wanted him to help but the Avatar didn't even know where he was - he was in no position to help them whatsoever. He just turned away and pushed their images back into the deepest recesses of his mind.

Aang arrived at the castle, the only catch was it was on top of a cliff and the only way up was a waterfall. What made it even more confusing was the fact they had been following the river downstream this entire way but now they had reached a waterfall that was flowing the opposite way. The Avatar became even more amazed when the boat began to traverse the massive waterfall. It just slid up when the man at the helm of the boat rowed.

_This guy must be incredibly strong._

The boat tilted over the top of the waterfall and landed with a loud smacking sound as it smacked onto the surface of the water. Suddenly the flow of the water changed again, guiding the boat towards the massive Palace's port. Aang could really feel the evil now, it truly throbbed through him. He was now scared for his life.

The cloaked figure stepped off the boat, somehow balancing so well that the small boat didn't even wobble. Not even slightly. Aang tried to do it the same way the boatman had but ended up almost toppling into the water if it weren't for the strong, skeletal hands which belonged to the robed figure. The man hoisted Aang onto steady ground and began walking, obviously expecting the Airbender to follow.

As they walked towards the castle the monk noticed the pillars that guided their way. Carved into the pillars were images of death and destruction, the pain on the people's faces was almost real, as if they were real people. Aang went to peer closer but he found a strong arm on his shoulder, pulling him back. The monk turned around to see the shame darkened shadows of the boatman looking his way. The man stood there, watching the boy for some time and then turned away, resuming the walk into the palace.

The Palace was truly magnificent, every little inch of it was intricately carved, the carvings themselves were not of pleasant images but the attention to detail was absolutely amazing. If Aang wasn't so afraid he would be examining the walls in more detail but unfortunately before he got over his fears the gates to the Palace opened and he was drawn inside.

The interior of the Palace was also decorated well, either black or gray covered the walls and the floor shone with brilliance that only came with marble. Different pictures covered the floor, some of dragons, others of skulls but every single one of them was surrounded with a pentagram. The boy could only stare in awe as he was lead on through more and more amazing artwork but then the man in front of him stopped and it was then that the Avatar felt it. The tremendous evil that began to choke him. He couldn't breathe, he was overwhelmed by the malicious feeling that began to surround him. He felt himself growing angry, incredibly angry. The red hot anger began to flow through him once again and he was beginning to lose control of his body, but not to the Avatar State; he was beginning to lose control of his body altogether.

Aang begun to struggle against the feeling inside him, he fell to his heads grasping his head, screaming in pain. The feeling that had taken over his body was incredibly powerful, and nothing he could do would shake it. He could feel it slowly spreading over him, and then searching deeper and deeper inside, searching for his soul to end it all. Suddenly a vision popped into his mind; of a tanned, dark-haired girl, smiling at him. Her beautiful, melodious voice sprang into his mind.

"You can do it Aang, I know you can," she whispered, seemingly right beside him. The Avatar ripped his hands free, driven by those simple words he struggled to his feet and roared, destroying the hold that the evil had begun to have on him. He breathed deeper and deeper, until finally his heart beat began to slow down once again. He stood up, wobbling on his legs as he staggered beside the skeleton. The man looked at him and laughed, he then continued walking, coming to the final door. Aang could feel that whatever had tried to control him resided in there. The evil was sitting in there, waiting for him, and he would not back down. The monk pushed past his guide and opened the door.

He had entered what appeared to be a throne room, it was probably the smallest room in the palace, but also the most important room. Aang could feel the very power emanating from the throne ahead of him, because on the throne sat a man. He was tall and muscular. He had long white hair which hung down to his waste. His skin was a deathly, pale-white and he wore dark, tight pants and a black, loose vest. His appearance was not overly concerning but his very presence almost caused the boy to faint.

"Hello, Aang," the man sitting on the throne spoke, his voice a clear and precise, but also dominating. "I am Hades."

"You're who?"

"I am Hades," the God spoke. "I am king of the underworld and I have invited you here to speak with me. I am aware that you are seeking your memories, boy. And I am here to help. I know exactly what happened to you, and I will tell you, just as soon as you do a little favor for me."

"Anything. I'll do anything," Aang said. "What is it?"

"Well this will go against everything you've ever believed in, which is why I am asking you to do this. I want you to kill an innocent. The Mayor of New York to be exact. I can tell you right now he is the nicest human being ever born, which is why you must kill him. I hate nice people."

The Avatar gulped, but it only took him a second to decide; "I'll do it." He did not regret his decision, he felt it was finally time for him to be selfish.

"Good. Now go with the Thanatos back to Jurai, and you will find your solace."

Aang bowed his head and turned to walk out the door, the boatman called Thanatos at his heels. The monk did not look at the art as he passed by it, he was focused, concentrating on one thing only. He was completely focused on his one goal; killing the mayor. Aang tried to think about how wrong the deed he was about to commit was, he could only block it out, he couldn't even begin to justify it.

The journey back flew by in an instant, because he ignored everything. He just closed his eyes and ignored the stares of the people along the shoreline, he did not need anyone judging him at this crucial point. He could not back down from this, or he would be forever doomed to the insanity of amnesia.

Aang only opened his eyes once the entire journey, and that was when he heard the screams of the souls. He opened his eyes and glanced sideways, seeing the murky hole where he had emerged into this world. He then looked ahead and saw a gate, and guarding the gate was a gigantic three-headed dog. Its toe was about the size of Aang's head, and it's teeth were sharp and vicious looking - it also had three sets of them. One of the heads looked vicious and angry, the other one looked playful and happy and the other seemed serious and rather neutral.  
_Three personality's in one being._  
Thanatos and Aang dismounted right in front of the massive beast, Aang was shaking with terror as the dog bent down to examine the Avatar. Thanatos was not worried and he just walked right around the giant towards the gate. He swung it open and gestured inside. Aang peered inside the door, only seeing inky darkness. He shrugged, realizing he had no other options he stepped into the foggy blackness and was instantly thrown.

The monk was thrown through the very fabric of space and time, he kept flying forward for what seemed like minutes through the impenetrable fog until finally it suddenly ended. He was blinded by the sudden light, and he couldn't see where he was but he knew that he was falling.

Aang quickly rubbed his eyes forcefully, trying to return vision before he smashed into something. Finally after what seemed like an eternity he managed to see a white blur of colour. He looked downwards and saw splotchy brown colours approaching fast. He quickly pushed his hands and legs down, creating air underneath him and slowing his descent greatly. He'd left it slightly too late because a second later he landed in a dumpster, almost breaking every bone in his body if it weren't for the ton of rubbish that he was now buried in.

The boy climbed from the filth and tumbled to the ground, lying there in a heap, trying to catch his bearings and return his vision. He knew he was in New York, and he also knew they must have dropped him somehow nearby the Mayor, so he stood up and steadied himself a wall and looked around. He appeared to be in a classy part of the city, which meant the mayor must be nearby. Aang began to walk down to the alleyway to what he assumed was the centre of the Rich District, but before he got halfway down the alleyway he was confronted with a group of homeless men.

They smiled, showing off their rotten teeth and disgusting beards. "Oh we'll have some fun with you," one of them giggled, pinching the Avatar's cheek. The boy was in no mood to deal with simpletons such as these so took them out within seconds. He punched the man that had pinched him in the face, almost certainly snapping his neck, he then kicked the other in the knee cap, snapping his leg brutally backwards. The boy watched as the man's bone popped out and blood began to squirt all over the pavement. The last criminal stared in horror at his brutalized friends. He turned to run, but Aang grabbed him by the shoulder and whirled him around.

"You should rethink your life," Aang spat, kicking the man in the sternum. He could feel the flat, smooth bone shoot inwards as his foot shot into the homeless man's chest. The man collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest which was now broken and caved in. He could no longer breathe and his heart would soon stop beating. Aang walked away, and when he had gone a few paces he lit a fireball in his hands and threw it backwards. It exploded on the ground in the middle of the three men, spitting flames all over them. In their last moments of life they writhed in agony, their skin slowly beginning to melt away to a charred mess.

The child watched as the man burnt alive before him, he raised his arms as he felt the man's soul begin to fade away. "I have done what you have asked," Aang called, looking to the ground. "Now you must fulfill your half of the bargain."

"You actually expect me to help you? I am the most evil being in this universe, I do not help people, Aang. I cannot believe how naive you are," Hades laughed, his voice booming around the courthouse. The boy closed his eyes, slowly calming his heart rate. He could feel the red hot rage boiling within him, he tried to quench it but he could not. He had come so close, only to be stopped seconds from attaining his solace. The clouds began to cloud over his life once more, but this time there was no ray of sunlight to give him hope, there was only the darkness. But once again he could feel the clouds of his mind open up, but this time sun did no come through, only a strange red light which lit up the earth.

Aang grabbed one of the guard's guns and shot himself in the head. The darkness enveloped him instantly, swallowing him whole and dragging him into the ground. He soon found himself in the same pit he had been in merely hours ago. The souls crowded him, trying to grab him, trying to keep him with them but he just shrugged them off, casting a layer of fire over his body he clawed his way out of the murky hole, ripping the souls off him as he went. Finally he toppled out and onto the rocks.

This time there would be no boat to take him to Hades, but the child did not care; the rage inside him ignored any possibility of failure, because all the rage wanted to do was be quenched and the only way to do that was to reap vengeance.

Aang took off at a run, wind kicking up from his feet as he sprinted around the river towards where the field of souls lay. He skidded to a halt as he arrived, realizing that now every single soul was looking at him. They wanted his body as a host, he was their only chance of getting out of this hell hole and they would stop at nothing to attain him.

They rushed at the child, moaning and screaming in pain and misery. The Avatar was not shocked, he just stood there and waited until they were only centimetres from striking him. His eyes flashes and suddenly he exploded with fire, incinerating the souls around him. The inferno spread, growing larger and larger. Aang began to walk forwards towards the gate, destroying everything and anyone around him. He could hear the gates begin to open and the shrieks as the demons began to pour out. Aang let the inferno around him seize as his enemies came rushing at him, their black cloaks flapping in the air.

Aang could see their demonic hands beneath their robes, their very presence stank of evil and power, but there were only four of them and the child was fueled by red hot rage. He stood there completely motionless as the four demons encircled him. The Avatar noticed lightning crackling along the end of their scythes, meaning that they could do some kind of element bending as well. They'd picked the wrong kid to use elements on.

One of them stepped forward and then broke into a run, raising his scythe in the air he brought it slicing down towards the monk's fragile frame. The boy sidestepped and lashed out with his foot, catching the demon in the midsection, sending a rush of air following through. His opponent was sent staggering backwards, clutching his chest from the blow. He raised his scythe into the air again but this time he did not strike, he just stood there.

All of a sudden the air above them began to crackle and pulsate, the other demons also lifted their staffs into the air and the darkened sky above them began to crackle with life. The Airbender looked to the sky and saw lightning dance its way across the sky.

Suddenly he heard the rolling thunderous boom as lightning struck, he dove out of the way just as a bolt of lightning smashed into the ground beside him. The ground was now charred and broken - if Aang had not moved he would most certainly be dead.

The Avatar looked at his opponents, who still had their scythes pointed towards the sky. Aang went to take a step towards them but he felt the booming thunder rumble again and quickly stepped back as another bolt of lightning appeared just where his feet had been moments ago. The boy was in a pickle, and there didn't seem to be much hope of escaping, so he let his rage die down just for a second so he could think.  
It was obvious that they were controlling where the lightning struck, so all he had to do was break their focus and they couldn't zap him. The monk stood still for a moment, listening to the weather changing above him. He knew that his opponents would grow impatient soon enough and try to strike him, and that was when he would strike.

He heard the soft rumble of the electricity far up in the sky and breathed in as he heard the far more distinct boom, just before the lightning struck. He waited a fraction of a second and then dove, he could literally feel where the lightning had charred his back as he ran forward, he jumped and jabbed his foot into one of the monster's faces. The demon reeled back, shrieking and clutching its weapon. Suddenly they were all encircling him, swinging their blades, sparks of electricity flying everywhere. Aang was barely avoiding the many blades, so he jumped, right over the circle of enemies. He landed behind on of the demons and reached forwarding twisting the creature's neck.

Only three were left, but they still looked menacing and incredibly lethal. They twirled their staffs, electricity flying forwards. Suddenly they shoved the twirling weapons forwards and a blast of electricity was shot forwards. Aang went to the ground, feeling the static tickle his skin as he prayed not to injured by that blast. The boy climbed to his feet. He had enough of their silly games. The Airbender slammed his palms together and suddenly all three of the monsters were crushed into each other. They lay on the ground, dazed, but the child was not done with them yet. He swiped his leg sideways, sending all four of the monsters toppling into the river. There they sank, screaming and writhing as their bodies melted away to nothing.

The Avatar watched as their souls rose from the water and were ripped away from the river and into the dark clouds above.

_Good riddance._

The monk began to run, as he passed the gates he felt a presence of a predator. He could feel eyes burning into him as he ran down the river, his speed turning out to be a very handy thing as the wind kicked up from behind him. The black dust billowed into the wind as the Avatar sprinted alongside the river.

He made it almost fifteen minutes running before it happened. The ground underneath him split apart and a massive beast burst from the ground beneath the boy. It appeared to be a gigantic worm, it's mouth was larger than a house and it was completely full of razor sharp teeth. The beast roared and thundered down towards the Avatar. Aang pushed air in front of him, sending him skidding backwards away from the massive worm as it disappeared into the ground right where he was standing. It's tail followed minutes later, showing the boy how large this beast really was. The child could feel the ground rumbling underneath his feet once again, he could see it cracking where he was standing. The only thing he could do was stamp on the ground, causing himself to shoot upwards, air roaring behind him as the beast burst through the ground. The beast kept rising and rising, its body seemingly never ending. The boy too kept rising but eventually be began to slow down and be began to descend, down into the still rising body of the worm.

He vanished between the huge teeth of the worm, falling right now its throat and into the beast's stomach. He landed in a pit of sticky, burning mess. His skin began to itch as soon as he had entered the liquid - he was in the monster's digestive fluids. He felt the monster begin to fall; it had obviously climbed far too high and was now paying the price. Aang closed his eyes and raised his palms. He placed them together and began to concentrate. He could feel the ground rushing up on them, he knew he would be crushed in here if he did not act right away.

He threw his arms and legs out, sending a ball of fire erupting from his body. The creature instantly incinerated around him, turning into nothing but a gooey mess which reigned down upon him. Aang looked down to see the creature split in half, its stomach completely gone. The boy almost felt sorry for the monster as it writhed in pain. But any feeling of regret was soon abolished as he saw the tail end of the worm begin to grow its very own head. He had effectively multiplied the behemoth, and it seemed now Aang would pay the price for his mistakes.

He watched as the worm's wounds slowly began to heal and they finished the replicating process. The Avatar dropped to the ground just as both of the creature's disappeared into the ground. He knew they would not attack again, but he also knew that if the worms could replicate, then there would be more of them, and the others would not fear the child as those two had. Aang began running again, not wanting to stick around the remains of the beast any longer, because he knew that scavengers would be around within moments to pick up the pieces, and possibly do some hunting.

The monk could see the village in sight, he could see the people watching his approach. Aang hoped that they were friendly people and that they didn't have any unexpected surprises waiting in store for him.

When he was almost there he felt the rumbling beneath him and the ground became crackly and broken. He stumbled, just as four of the massive worm beasts burst through the soil towards the boy. They were all bigger than the very first one he had seen and they also seemed to be far more ferocious. The child picked up his speed, driving the wind behind him all the more. He was not far from the village now. If he could get there he could use one of the houses to hide behind, then he'd have to kill all four of the worms.

The villagers began hurriedly gesturing for the child to come to them, they all seemed to be behind a blue, shining line, not one of them put a toe over that line. Aang dived over the line, just as one of the beasts darted towards him. The creatures was literally inches from swallowing Aang hole when it was sent flying backwards, rebounding off of some invisible wall and convulsing in the dirt. After a few minutes the worm exploded, sending bits of flesh flying everywhere. The flesh splattered into the invisible wall in front of the boy and shot backwards. The Avatar stared at the wall, puzzled.

An elderly man from the village walked up towards him, "That wall was put there for our safety. Hades does not want his favourite snack getting spoiled by his guardians."

"You're his favourite snack?" Aang questioned,

"Yes, yes we are. He likes to feed on innocent souls you see. It takes years for the feeding to kill us but we're in constant pain, our souls constantly being sucked away from us little by little. We're welcome to leave whenever we wish, but that would mean certain death," the man explained, gesturing towards the gigantic worms that were examining their dead comrade.

"Well," Aang started. "I am going to teach Hades a lesson, so when I'm done I'll come back and take you back to Jurai."

"Thank you for the offer, child, but Hades is too powerful. You'd be better off lying down outside that line and hoping the worms do not eat you. Do not try to kill Hades, he is the Lord of the Underworld. He is immortal."

"You have my word that I will stop him, and I will come back for you," Aang promised, turning and walking from the village, the strange blue people watching him go. Aang looked towards the palace in the distance. He could see the waterfall and he wondered how he would get up that. The cliffs were unclimbable and he couldn't possibly swim up it, even if he wanted to get into the water; there could be even more dangerous things lurking in the depths of that river.

Aang pushed the negative thoughts from his mind and set off at a run again, now with even more speed as he thought of the villagers behind him, in constant pain.

The monk arrived at the waterfall - his final obstacle before he could reap his vengeance. The only problem was that this was going to be the hardest obstacle yet. The boy grabbed onto the cliff face and tried to hoist himself up, only to be thrown back by a charge of electricity. So Aang walked to the water's edge and peered inside. He bent down close to the edge and looked in, just as a massive mouth - full of teeth - came shooting to the surface. Aang leaned back as the huge fish sailed over his head and landed on the ground behind him. The fish wriggled and flapped on the ground, dying from lack of water.

The Avatar didn't bother putting the fish back in the water, because he knew it would bite him and probably drag him under. Aang walked up to the fish and raised his foot. He sat poised over the dying fish for a second, wondering if he was doing the right thing. He had ended many lives today with no regret, but suddenly he was feeling guilty about killing an animal with the memory the span of Aang blinking. The Airbender hopped to the other side of the fish and slowly raised his hands, sending a gentle gust of wind into the fish. He lifted it up and placed it gently back in the water. It same a small circle of happiness and then popped its head back out of the water. It gestured with its head to the waterfall and then back to Aang. It seemed to want him to enter the water, but the boy was hesitant. Seconds before the fish had tried to kill him, and now it seemed almost grateful.

The monk had no other options, so he slipped into the water and looked towards the waterfall. Suddenly he was grabbed from underneath and thrown forwards, but he kept on going. He looked down to see the fish, gripping the seat of his pants in its mouth and hauling him forward. The fish scaled the waterfall with ease, dropping Aang at the top and seemingly nodding to him before taking off down the waterfall.

The child smiled, quickly getting out of the water before more fish attacked him with their razor sharp teeth. He raised his hands, creating a massive draft of wind which blew his clothes completely dry. He readied himself and began walking down the line of pillars towards the castle's gates. When he was about halfway the gates burst open and dozens of demons poured out. Aang wasted little time trying to fight these ones, he dove under an electric blast, rolled to his feet and kicked out with several blades of air. The air scythed into his enemies, cutting a couple of them in half but the smarter ones had just ducked. The replied with a blast of lightning from the end of their weapons, Aang had to jump high into the air to avoid the lightning which pulsated on the ground where he had just stood. He came close to one of the warriors and lit his robe on fire, sending the demon sprinting into the water, where he was soon incinerated.

Half of the demons remained, but every time they attacked Aang barely managed to escape death so Aang was thankful when Hades came through the door. "Leave him!" Hades roared, "He's mine!" Hades held out his hands and two swords appeared in his hands in a puff of smoke. The God gestured with his weapons towards the boy's hands, and in a flash the same swords appeared in his hands. Aang stared down at the weapons and swung them around, testing their balance. "They are one blade and should be used as such," Hades explained, showing how the two blades could stick together. He spread the blades apart again and pointed them towards the boy, "C'mon, boy."

Aang twirled the blades in his hands, running forward he slashed out with one of the blades, stabbing with the other at the same time. Hades merely stepped back and slapped both blades away at the same time. The God then sliced shallow cuts into the Avatar's chest, laughing the entire time.

_He is a master with these blades, but I still have to try._

Aang swung with both blades, Hades dodged underneath the blow as Aang had expected The boy brought his leg swinging around, sending a wave of flame towards his opponent only to have it waved aside by Hades. "Don't be so foolish, Aang. You can't expect nature's elements to work on me."

The Avatar roared, bouncing forwards and swinging madly only to have Hades easily step aside and gouge one of the knives down Aang's back. The boy screamed out in pain as he felt the blood begin to trickle down his spine. Aang turned, holding his blades in front of him he waited patiently for his opponent to make the first move. Hades' smile grew larger as he stepped in for the final attack. He swiped, and as Aang went to block the blade he stabbed his second on into the boy's shoulder. He grabbed the other and stabbed that one into his other shoulder. The Avatar screamed in pain as the muscles in his shoulders moved, cutting themselves more and more open the blades.

"You were foolish to come back here, boy. You are strong, for a human, but I am a God. There is no way a human could ever defeat me, until today I never thought someone could make it to my Palace, but it seems I'll have to up my security a bit, eh?" Hades laughed, "Time for you to die, permanently this time!" Hades cackled raising his fist, as a dark lightning began to crackle over his arm. "You know what, Avatar? I think I'll give you one last piece of enlightenment before you vanish from existence," the god paused, thinking of how he would say it in the most brutal way possible. "I'm the reason you were frozen, I'm the reason you're here, and I'm the reason Ange is dead."

The last statement rang through the child's ears, louder than anything he had ever experienced. His eyes snapped open as the pieces of the puzzle began to lay themselves out. Suddenly he felt his eyes and tattoos begin to glow and his mind begin to fade away to another world; he was finally remembering.

_The sun was high in the sky and the Avatar's life was perfect. The Fire Lord had been defeated and the war had ended. Finally the world was at peace and Aang had the one thing in his life he truly loved; Ange. She walked by his side, hand in hand with him. Suddenly the sun was replaced with dark, ominous clouds. Ange quivered with fear as she felt a presence. Aang turned to see a man with long, white hair, pale skin and an evil aura to him.___

_"Hello, Aang," the man spoke.___

_"What do you want?" Aang snapped.___

_"I just want to talk, boy," Hades laughed. "You know you ended the war I worked so hard to start, and I think it would be best for it to begin all over again. The thing is, that can't happen while the Avatar still exists."___

_"C'mon kill me then!" The Avatar roared.___

_"I am not naive, boy. I know you will just be reincarnated all over again," Hades laughed, and suddenly he raised his finger and a small electrical dart shot from his finger and into Ange. She collapsed beside Aang who bent down to check on her. He heart had stopped and she was dead. ___

_Aang looked up towards the God of Death, anger in his eyes. "You will pay, Hades!" He made to take a step towards his enemy but he found himself unable to move. He tried to look down but he couldn't, he was completely stuck in place. It was then he noticed the chill down his spine and he realized what was about to happen. He tried with all of his might to break free but the ice only strengthened, holding him in tighter and tighter. Hades stepped forward, smiling as he snapped his fingers.___

_Darkness.__  
_

Aang came back to reality, he came back to the sight of the Lord of Death smiling down at him, ready to kill the boy. The Avatar's eyes shone with a brilliant white light. "Everything was perfect, and then you had to go and kill Ange. You son of a bitch!"

Hades swung his fist forward, but Aang merely put up his own hand and caught the blow. The monk began to squeeze on the Immortal's hand, crushing the bones inside it. Hades ripped his hand free and stumbled backwards as the child freed himself from the blades and held them in his own hands. He stood before the Lord of Death, gripping the blades tightly in his hands.

"I am going to make you pay for everything you have done to me, Hades. You will regret the day you messed with the Master of Elements. I am the Avatar, and you may be a God but you are pathetic!" Aang shouted, spittle flying from his mouth as he walked closer to Hades who was now crawling along the ground trying to escape the child's wrath.

The guards came rushing up behind Aang but an invisible force of wind simply threw them into the river, instantly incinerating them. Aang reached the God, standing over him he overlapped the blades over the man's neck, drawing thick, blue blood. "Not really invincible are you, Hades?"

Hades smiled, it was not over yet, not by a long shot. He raised his hands and a current of electricity emerged from his fingertips, coursing into the boy's body. Aang shook, convulsing but in no such pain. But the anger began to fade from his eyes, and it was replaced by nothing. Nothing at all. The boy stood up and withdrew the blades from Hades' neck.

"Weak-minded humans will always fall for that little trick," Hades laughed. "Thanatos!" The god called, "Bring Ange here, on the double."

The robed boatman appeared, holding the struggling girl. Aang turned to look at her, registering no emotion at all. "Aang! Aang help me!" She screamed, struggling against Thanatos' grip.

"Kill her, Aang. Kill the women you love now."

Aang began to walk towards Ange, his blades shining with light as he stalked closer and closer towards her. He finally reached her and raised the blade, ready to slice her neck open.

She struggled against the boatman's grip, "Aang...?" Aang pushed the sword closer to her neck, nicking the skin now. "Aang, it's me Ange! Aang look at me!" Aang glanced up into her eyes, her brown beautiful eyes that he had fallen in love with. The Avatar smiled, grabbing the girl by her neck and spinning her around.

"Don't worry Thanatos, he's still going to kill her I can tell!" Hades cheered.

Aang turned towards the God and smiled, right before driving the blade into Thanatos' hood. He felt a sickening shrieking sound as the blade struck the bone and went right through. A golden light filled the hood and Thanatos crumpled to the ground, now just a pile of white dust.

The Avatar turned to the God, "You're reign is over, bitch," Aang said, driving his sword into the man's heart. Suddenly the entire world began to shake around them. The sword in the Avatar's hands began to burn but he held on tightly, driving the blade further into the man's heart. Hades turned into a pile of dark dust right before the child's eyes and then there was a flash of light. It lit up the entire world, blinding everyone. When it finally subsided it was sunny. The Underworld was warm and the sun was shining. The Avatar looked out onto the dangerous plains which he had trekked across to see beautiful green grass. Aang picked up the Lord's crown off of the ground and dropped one of the blades on the ground. He then led Ange over to the boat.

"We're going home, baby, we're going home."

The Avatar stepped into the boat, not rocking it even slightly and picked Ange up, off the bank and sat her down in the boat. She rested her head on his shoulder and he squeezed her tightly with one arm as he put one of his hands over the edge of the boat and constantly pulsated his hand, creating a stream of air which pushed the boat along. As it came over the waterfall he created more air from his hands, holding the boat aloft and gently guiding it down to the water. He smiled at the fish staring up at him from the bottom and sped up the stream, fighting the current.

He made it to the village in no time, where he dismounted and led Ange out. A group of people crowded around the Avatar and the old man approached, his eyes wide with shock as he saw the crown in the child's hands. Aang smiled at the old man and looked down at the crown.

"As the Lord of the Underworld I officially give you back your souls," the child said, tapping the crown with his sword, causing it to shake and burst with life. When the light subsided all of the people around Aang were normal again; they were human. The boy smiled. "My second act as Lord of the Underworld is to crown you," Aang held the crown out to the hold man. "Lord of the Underworld. We need an underworld to keep all of the evil people, let's just hope you can do a better job than Hades did."

"Thank you, Aang. You have liberated our people and given us the power to make our own lives better. I will forever be in your debt, whenever you need a favour just call on me and I will comply."

"The pleasure is all mine...ummm what is your name again?"

"Lucifer," the old man said happily. "I am the son of Hades and I thank you so much once again for helping us out." Aang stood there, his mouth open. He was shocked that Hades was so evil as to do this to his very own son. "These are my siblings," Lucifer gestured to the people around him.

"Well I guess it's best if you take that boat and go and claim your throne. It is rightfully yours," Aang suggested.

"But how will you get home?" Lucifer asked.

"We can walk," Aang told them. "I have a score to settle with a few worms anyway." Lucifer smiled at Aang, until he realized the child wasn't joking and he began frowning. The monk knew what the man was thinking; that he was crazy, and he probably was, but it always seemed to work out just fine for Aang, so he'd carry on being crazy, with Ange at his side.

Aang turned and walked out of the village, Ange's hand intertwined with his own as they walked through the grassy plains underneath the beautiful fake sun. She turned and smiled at him, "I've miss you, Aang."

"I've missed you too, Ange," Aang stopped walking and bent his neck to kiss her, but he felt a rumble beneath them. "Hold that thought, okay?" She nodded and Aang picked her up and leaped aside, just as a massive worm erupted from the ground. The Avatar put his girlfriend on the ground and darted away again, holding the sword in his hand. Another worm appeared behind him, and another, then another until there were a dozen of them. They circled him, high in the sky like the towers of meat that they were. The boy was not worried, he was no longer afraid. He just smiled as the first worm struck. It snaked in, trying to swallow him whole. Aang jumped just before it hit, its face became buried in the ground and the boy landed on its. He ran along its back, sticking the blade in and dragging it down the creature's body, dodging the guts as they spat outwards. Another worm jumped at him and the boy simply jumped on top of that one, ripped a hole where he assumed the brain would be and flooded it with fire. The worm went down, shrieking as its brain melted away, destroying its life completely.

The Avatar turned to the remaining worms, the smile still on his face as he swiped his arms sideways five times. Each time left another line of fire. The boy stepped back and then pushed his arms forward, flooding the fire with air and causing it to explode forward. It became a gigantic wall of flame, incinerating the worms in front of it to dust. The boy laughed and turned to the two worms he had not incinerated. He created a hurricane force wind which sent the two corpses into the river, and the slowly flowed down the stream. Aang figured that his fish friend would enjoy the snack.

The boy walked back over to Ange and held her hand once more, leading her back to the gates of the Underworld, where they could finally leave this hell hole and continue on with their lives. But before they started walking again, Aang leaned down to kiss her, and this time he was sure she was kissing back. He pulled back, smiling. He looked into her brown eyes for a moment longer before tearing his face away and beginning to walk again.

Although the walk had taken hours it felt like only mere seconds had passed to the couple. To them a walk through hell was still the most magical moment of their lives, solely because they were together. Before they knew it they had reached Cerberus, who had scared Aang earlier that day. It began barking and snarling at the airbender, all three heads looked vicious now, but Aang just simply lead Ange up to the Gate's Guardian and stood before it. Ange hid her face in Aang's shoulder, obviously not as confident as the boy was. The dog rushed forward, aiming to swallow both of them in one bite, but Aang simply raised the sword and pointed it at the dog's face. The middle head came to rest with the point directly between its massive eyes.

It slowly backed away, whimpering and hiding all of its heads in its massive paws. "Good boy," Aang patted all of the dogs as he walked past to the gate. He opened the gate for his girlfriend and walked through with her, into the darkness, into the beginning of their next life.

They appeared in the same place the boy had appeared the last time he'd come back to life. Aang was beginning to think they'd deliberately placed the exit to Hell so high that when you finally got out you'd splat on the ground and have to do it all over again. Thankfully Aang didn't need to do die, because he just raised the arm he wasn't using to hold Ange to create a gust of wind which held them afloat in the air, he slowly lowered them to the ground into the same alleyway where he had killed those criminals. Some homeless men were crowding around the charred remains of their comrades, they seemed angry.

As Aang touched down to the ground he began to walk away, but the homeless had already noticed him. "Oi you! Bring the pretty young girl over here, or we're going to hurt you," he heard one of the men shout after him. The monk complied, leading Ange over to the foul smelling criminals. "Alright kid, leave the girl with us and we won't hurt you. But if we find out you've called the cops on us we'll come hunting you out, ya' hear?" Aang merely stared at the man talking to him, not saying a word. His blade was hidden in his waistband behind him, meaning they couldn't see it.

The grizzly, bearded homeless man pulled a blade from his pocket and reached for Ange, who whimpered as he drew closer. Aang put his arm in front of her and pushed her back. "You know, lads," Aang began. "Your mates tried the same thing on me before, and look what happened to them." Aang pointed to the burnt and bloody remains of the three men.

"That was you?" Another one of the men stepped forward, now holding a pistol.

"Yes it was," Aang stated. "Now get down on your hands and knees and lick the ground. Then you can apologize to my girlfriend."

"Are you kidding me, boy?" The man with the gun raised it to Aang's head. "You think you can take us? You don't even have a weapon. i think you should apologize," the man said, unzipping his pants.

Aang closed his eyes and felt the air around him move and chorus with his own body. He could feel Ange's trembles behind him, knocking the air particles into one another until finally they reached the Avatar. The boy opened his eyes. He had been taught a vital lesson today; he had been taught that justice knew no limits, and certain things had to be done to deal with people like the men before him.

The boy closed his eyes once more; he was enlightened, his entire perspective on things had changed. Finally he had found his comfort in life, he had found the solace that he had been seeking for so long. "Shoot me," Aang ordered the man.

"What?"

"Do it, pussy," Aang taunted.

"Don't test me, boy," the man spat.

"Are you scared?" The man fired the gun. Aang could hear the trigger grinding as it pulled the hammer back. He stepped aside as the hammer swung forward, into the gunpowder exploding the bullet out of the barrel. The Avatar raised his hands as the bullet span past and closed his palm around it. The piece of lead nestled gently into his fist as his hand closed. Aang opened his eyes and stepped back to the men and opened his hand, showing them the small piece of red hot metal.

"That must have been some kind of magic trick," the man exclaimed. "You think we're stupid! You think we'd fall for that?"

"Let me see you do it, then," Aang suggested.

"Easily! Any one can catch a bullet, just close your hand on it! Easy! Hey, John, aim at my hand," the man with the gun handed his pistol over to the man with the knife.

The man with the knife raised the pistol, aimed and fired. The homeless man attempting to catch a bullet didn't even move his hand as the gun was fired. he just kept his hand there as the bullet pierced his flesh, smashing all of the bones in his hand and came out the other side, blood and tendons following behind.

"I'm sure you can do it," Aang encouraged him. "Try again with the other hand."

The man was too busy to listen to the child's wisecracks because he was on the ground clutching his now useless hand, screaming in pure agony. The man who had fired the gun turned and went to fire at the boy. Once again Aang could hear the screeching as the cheap trigger was slid backwards. The Avatar raised his finger and shot a blast of air into the chamber of the pistol. The hammer of the gun pushed forward, sending the bullet flying through the barrel of the gun, only to meet an extreme gust of wind and send the bullet back to where it had came from. A small explosion rocked the alleyway as two bullets collided inside a small space, effectively ripping the man's hand off. The other three homeless stared in horror at what had just happened, they made to run like the cowards they were but Aang simply raised his arms, sending walls of flame leaping up on either side of the alley, trapping them in.

The child smiled as he held the small bullet between his fingers. _Who needs a gun?_ Aang thought to himself as he raised the bullet into the air, holding it aloft with a continuous current of air. The Airbender pushed his hands forward, sending the bullet rocketing through one of their heads, killing him instantly. _That actually worked?"_

Four remained that were still alive. Two of which were severely injured, but justice still had not been dealt in Aang's mind. Hades had taught him one thing from all of this; you could never been merciful in achieving your goal. Aang was going to become something that he had always despised, but now he welcomed it. The child pictured Hades' scared, cowardice face as he swiped his arms down four times, slicing the four homeless men in two. They would slowly bleed out here in the alleyway, and nobody would care that they had died.

Aang led Ange through the flames and out onto the street.

-------------

Days following that Aang moved out of the D'Haran Arm's building and went with Ange into the wilderness. He found himself a place deep in the middle of nowhere and built his home there, deep in some forest that nobody knew the name of. He hunted his meat, grew his vegetables and collected his own water. Aang would go off on missions all the time, and Ange would take care of sick animals she would find in the forest, and with all of their free time they spent it together, cherishing the time that they had with each other. It would be nice to say they lived happily ever after, but unfortunately there is no such thing as a happy ending.


End file.
